Herzen im Einklang
by rhapsody14
Summary: When Ahiru turns back into a human girl, she and Fakir try to find out why.   Hell, i don't know what to write here...
1. Der Nußknacker:Schneeflockenwalzer

_Once upon a time a man died. The last story that the man had spun should have ended in extraordinary tragedy. However the story turned out to have a happy ending. The reason for that ending was a little Duck that the man himself called into the story. _

_And so a man started to write a story. That story overflowing with hope had just begun. But the light of hope can only shine in the darkness of fear and doubt. The man had started a story he might regret to have written without realizing it._

**Akt 1**

**Der Nußknacker: Der Schneeflockenwalzer**

At the lake nearby Goldcrown Town, a young writer was sitting in his chair on the gangplank, with his coat hanging over the chair . It was late autumn and the wind blew over the water. The young writer was wearing a white blouse and a brown vest. In his left hand he hold piles of paper clipped on a board, in his right hand a Duck's feather with ink. He was concentrating on writing but he couldn't focus or arrange his thoughts.

He sighed and turned to the left. "What the hell do you want?"

On his left shoulder sat a small yellow Duck, looking at the young man with concerned eyes, without blinking even once. Fakir grumbled and asked once again:"What?"

The little Duck gave him a little "Quack", as it would answer all his questions. Ahiru still wasn't looking away.

_Like I could understand that_, Fakir thought to himself.

He grabbed the little yellow animal and wanted to place it on the wooden planks.

"Look, I don't have any more food for you, so please stop troubling me. I'm trying to write here!"

Now it was Ahirus turn to be annoyed. She released herself out of Fakirs grip, flew up, and pecked his head. Fakir tried to defend himself and held his hands up for protection.

"Stop that, Ahiru!", he shouted.

After the little Duck believed that the boy had enough, she stopped, and flew to the waters surface, landed elegant and swam around the little lake. If you looked closer you could tell her still annoyed look in her face as she tried to ignore the boy.

Fakir patted his head, thought, _stupid Duck_, and turned back to the almost blank pages on his lap.

He started to write a few more words on his pages as he started to spin another story.

It was a cold breeze on the water. Winter was about to come. As the little Duckling swam around in the water, she seemed to hear a sound. At first it was low but it got louder and louder. Ahiru stopped and listened a little more to the music.

As she listened, she felt how her heart started to resonate with the melody, becoming one with it.

Fakir was still focused on his story. A few snowflakes that flew over him caught his attention. He was taken away from his story and came back to reality. Curiously he tried to hold one of the snowflakes in his hand. It landed on his palm, a white snowflake, but it didn't melt. Instead of that, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

_How strange..._, he wondered. He didn't write a story to start snowing, he was sure of it. So how could snowflakes appear in this mild climate? A strong wind started to blow, and Fakir needed to shield his eyes.

"What the-?"

Suddenly a light appeared on the lake, glowing strong in the dark water. It was the little duck (that swam on the lake) who was engulfed in the light. With big eyes, Fakir watched as the little figure seemed to grow bigger and bigger. The shape of the little bird disappeared. The legs grew longer, out of his head grew hair and his little floppy wings lost its feathers and turned to graceful arms. The figure was wearing a white Tutu and pink pointe shoes. Around her neck was a red necklace with two extended wings. On her head she wore a little crown shaped like an egg. She was standing there like a Primadonna: Princess Tutu.

As she opened her eyes, you could see the blue of the water in her gaze but there was still something else. Something like longing. The music was calling her, she wanted to follow it, like a puppet with no free will. But it didn't matter. Only the melody was important. She needed to follow the melody, wherever it may lead her.

"...Ahiru?"

A voice called her back from her dream of the puppet with no will. She turned around and saw a young man, standing on the gangplank, a feather in his hand and with amazed eyes. His dark hair was messy from the wind and his papers were scattering around. He seemed familiar to her. Who was he again? She blinked innocently with her blue eyes as a the light returned into them.

"Fakir."

She couldn't say any more because within the next second she fell into the cold water . After a short while, she aroused, panting for air. But it wasn't Princess Tutu anymore. As soon as she said his name, the mask of Princess Tutu disappeared and she turned into a common girl. She looked at her hands and she couldn't believe it. She was Ahiru again. The girl who can't dance ballet very well and acts like a duck. The girl who was actually a duck who turned human for the prince she fell in love with. Now she got back in her human form again and was shaking in excitement.

„I'm human...? I'm human! Fakir I'm-" she was standing up to face her friend and saw him looking the other way. He was burning red. She blinked again. "Huh?"

"Your clothes, you moron! You're not wearing any clothes!", he yelled with a shaky voice.

Ahiru looked down on herself, turned red and sat down in the water._ ...deja vu?, _they both thought to themselves.

On the other side of the lake one could see a little mouse standing on his back legs, sniffing the air and looking at the unbelievable scene. After a while it fell on all four, turned around and left the lake through the grass.

* * *

After a while, Ahiru crawled out of the water to the save shore. Fakir handed his coat over to her, so that she wouldn't freeze so much. But Ahiru didn't think about the cold. She was human again now. She would be able to dance again and talk to all the people she used to know. Happily she turned to Fakir with a big smile on her face.

"Fakir, isn't it great? It worked! You wrote a story about me right?"

But Fakir didn't look at her. He was looking right in front of him, thinking hard about something.

"No, it wasn't me", he mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I don't know what exactly happened. It doesn't make sense. I didn't write that..."

Ahiru was a little confused. It seemed to trouble him, that she turned back into a human. Why wasn't he happy? She wrapped the coat closer to her body.

"... maybe Drosselmeyer decided to turn me back?"

"I doubt that, that's not like him."

" Oh no, what if there's something wrong with Mytho? Maybe he needs our help? We got to find him as fast as possible, Fakir!" Ahiru jumped up and wanted to run into town, but Fakir held her back.

"I don't think so. His heart is complete again, he has no need for Princess Tutu anymore. The story came to an end, remember?"

Ahiru wandered around the green grass barefooted and thought. What could be the reason that she turned back? As she walked, something hard bumped against her chest again and again. She stopped and took out a little Pendant which was around her neck. The Pendant which let her turn into Princess Tutu!

"The Pendant!"

"What?"

Fakir turned around to the girl as she came closer to him. She held the red egg-shaped Pendant in front of the writer.

"Look, look! It's the same Pendant as before! Although..."

"What is it?"

Ahiru looked closer at the red Jewel in her hand.

„ It feels... kind of different.. I can't really say. It's weird. Ah! Look! There seems to be something inside. See?"

Fakir took a closer look at it. She was right. It looked like a small white snowflake in the middle of the Pendant.

" So most likely it's a different Pendant."

Fakir nodded. " Hmm. A copy. A good one to it."

Ahiru sat down, powerless. Her happiness about returning to the life of a ballerina had disappeared entirely.

"So, maybe somebody else needs me?"

"Well it's possible."

For a brief moment there was silence between the two. Ahiru looked at the calm water and wondered what her life would be like from now on. If it would be like before. And since the town isn't trapped inside the story anymore, what changes would she meet? And why did she returned to be Princess Tutu all of a sudden?

" Alright."

"Huh?" Ahiru was taken back from her dreams and looked at Fakir.

" I'll try to find out what happened. You wait here. " Fakir turned around to leave the lake and to head into town.

Ahiru stood up in protest." I'm coming with you!"

Fakir looked at her." You? Looking like this?"

Ahiru blushed a little. " But you can't just leave me here alone! And the whole story concerns me after all! And what if somebody really needs my help?"

Fakir sighed and closed his eyes." Why am I doing this.. alright but first of all you need some normal clothes. Where are we supposed to get them?"

* * *

"Why me...", Fakir mumbled.

Ahiru had insisted that they go to Fakirs house. It wouldn't be perfect to run around in boys clothes but that was the best solution they could think of right now. Fakir wanted to bring the clothes to her but she was thick-headed. She thought he would leave her then. So Fakir gave in to her request and now they were walking in the town on the way to the blacksmith, an embarrassed boy and a half naked and soaked girl.

They were fortunate that the weather was really bad and it almost seemed like it would rain soon, so most of the townspeople stayed at home. However, the few faces that looked at the strange pair with curious eyes, made Fakir blush. Ahiru didn't really realize them. She was so happy to have a closer look at the town again, seeing all the shops and houses. She felt melancholic.

As they got closer to the blacksmith Fakir started to walk faster then before, almost running, while Ahiru was still walking idle. Then she realized that he was about 5 meters ahead. She ran after him, almost bumping into Fakir.

_He's acting strange... so I didn't imagine it, did I?, _she thought to herself remembering the last few weeks.

But her thoughts were interrupted. As Fakir reached out for the the door it suddenly opened.

"Oh! Fakir, I was wondering where you were, it's such an awful weather. I came to visit you and Charon, you can't keep me waiting for too long, you know?"

Before them, Rätsel was standing in the door, the wedded woman, who Ahiru met when she was human before. She still looked beautiful with her brown hair and her gentle smile. After greeting Fakir, she realized the little person behind him.

" Oh my, who are you? Your wet from head to toe... and where are you clothes? Fakir did you have anything to do with it?"

"W-What? No! I...", Fakir protested and tried to think of something. He couldn't tell her the truth obviously. Then he continued," I saw her at the lake. She seemed to be robbed so I helped her! Right?"

Ahiru blinked nervously and nodded fast.

Rätsel leaned over to Ahiru and tilted her head a little to the left." And how did they steal your clothes?"

" Ah, I was taking a bath in the lake!"

" What? But it's such a cold weather!"

"Yes!"

Rätsel looked at the girl and was confused while Fakir was rubbing his head. _Idiot!_

Rätsel laughed and said to her:" I see. So, what is your name?"

"My name is Ahiru!"

"Ahiru? Like a duck? What a...unique name. Well, it seems like you need some new clothes then, right?"

" Ah right. Since your here, could you give her some of your clothes maybe? Just for a short while, promise."

Rätsel turned to the boy.

"Oh I don't think she will fit into my clothes. She's so petite. How about buying her some new clothes. What do you say Ahiru?"

"But I don't have any money with me.."

" Don't worry, I'll pay for you. A beautiful girl needs beautiful clothes that fit her perfectly."

Fakir protested against this idea." You don't need to, she will be gone soon anyway."

Ahiru made a grimace and glared at Fakir. " Rätsel, I gladly accept your offer."

" Huh? How do you know my name?"

" Ah, uhm you see, well, Fakir just said your name didn't he?"

" He did?"

Fakir couldn't stop them, they were already engaged in chatter and were walking off to the next shop. The boy sighed and scratched his head. Whatever, he had more important things to do. He made his way to Autors place. Maybe he could tell him what was going on.

* * *

As Ahiru and Rätsel walked along the road, the little Duck-Girl turned around to see Fakir leave. She grumbled and pouted._ How can he say that. I won't go anywhere! I turned back into a human and there must be a reason __for__ it! Not like it's thanks to him anyway!_

Rätsel laughed at Ahirus angry face and hid her smile. Ahiru looked curiously at the older woman.

"Say, Ahiru-chan, do you like Fakir?"

" What, no we're just friends! Although I wonder about that every now and then..."

"Hihi. You're really cute."

Ahiru looked into Rätsels face. She didn't remember the little girl anymore, how could she anyway. But she still seemed to be the same woman she met before. Ahiru smiled and forgot Fakir for the moment, she wanted to enjoy herself.

* * *

After 2 hours the two women were done with shopping. Rätsel insisted to buy her more than one outfit. In the end, they both had their hands full as they got back to Charons house. Rätsel explained the situation to Charon. Apparently, Ahiru told her, that the robbed girl wanted to dance Ballet at the Academy and that her parents sent her here alone. After Ahiru told this first to Rätsel she was amazed that she came up with a lie so easily. But it wasn't all a lie, was it?

Fakir still hadn't returned, so Ahiru decided to stray around the town. She didn't want to look for Fakir right now, she was still annoyed about his behavior. As she walked the familiar streets, the little girl was wearing a yellow long-sleeved turtleneck pull-over and short brown trousers. She wore warm boots and her socks reached almost her shorts. It looked similar to her older clothes when she was still fighting for the Prince's heart.

Just like before she gazed at everything she could see. The people, the shops, even the little birds which flew in the air. A yellow little bird stopped and landed on a nearby lantern to get a closer look at the girl. Ahiru realized it's gaze and smiled widely as she recognized the bird as Canary-mama. She waved at her with her hand.

" What are you waving at?"

"At Canary-mama of course."

"Who? Do you mean the bird?"

"You think that the bird is your mama, you're so delusional. Did you fall on your head and woke up believing that you're a bird? How cute!"

Ahiru stopped her movement. She knew those voices! She turned around and looked at two students

of Goldcrown Academy, one with two blond pigtails and a bright smile on her face, the other one with dark pink hair put together in a bun and with a curious look.

" Pique! Lilie!"

The pink haired girl gave her a even more curious look." Do we know you?"

" Huh? But..!" _Oh no, _Ahiru thought as she realized the situation._ They forgot that they forgot about me!_ Ahiru tried to think of a really good reason.

" Oh my! Have you been stalking us because you wish to be just like us? Oh you poor thing!"

" I doubt that's the case, we're not that good at ballet Lilie."

Then Ahiru got an idea.

" The school! I'm going to try out to get into the school! That's it!"

" That doesn't really explains it."

" Don't you see Pique? She wants to be closer to us, but she will realize that she can't compare to us and she'll fall into a deep depression. How wonderful would that be, just try to imagine it!"

" Honestly, what is it with you?"

" But we're almost done with school, so obviously some people do look up to us!"

"We just started en pointe last summer!"

Ahiru smiled as she watched the two of them chatting. She was feeling nostalgic. She really missed her friends. And Ballet. Although Rue and Mytho are gone, this would be enough for her. Fakir was also there, but she still tried not to think of him.

She chatted a little more with Pique and Lilie. About the students and teachers of the Academy( it seemed Neko Sensei wasn't there anymore) and also about upcoming plays and the other Facilities in the Academy besides the Ballet. They laughed a little about Ahirus name but they found it cute. For some reason it even sounded familiar to them.

Suddenly, as they kept on chatting happily, Ahiru stopped in her walk. The two students turned around to her to find out what was wrong. It was a quiet melody that Ahiru could hear. The same melody she heard at the lake, just before she turned into Princess Tutu. She turned her Head to the direction the Melody came from.

" Ahiru?"

"Huh? Ah, I'm sorry I have something important to do, go on without me."

" But we wanted to show you the Dormitory!"

"Sorry, it's really important, See you again. Bye."

And with this words she ran off to the direction the music came from, ignoring the shouts of her old/new friends.

The music got louder and louder with every step she took. She now also recognized the melody. It was the melody of the Snowflake waltz from The Nutcracker, she was sure of that!

When she almost reached the source of the melody, she transformed into Princess Tutu. She couldn't remember if it was her own will or the music that made her turn into the Prima Donna, but it didn't matter to her.

She entered one of the many towers of the town, the Lion Tower, also known as the Powder Tower. In it she could see a small figure playing on a flute. A few mice were running around the floor and glared at the the guest, one was sitting on the persons shoulders. The Person, a young man with curly hair was sitting on the stairs at the end of the room. He wore a strange shirt and his hat was decorated with a long feather.

As the princess arrived he stopped playing and looked at her with his grey-colored eyes and smiled.

Princess Tutu asked with a warm smile:" You were the one who called me, right?"

With her hands, she suggested to dance with him, like she always did. The boy chuckled.

" I'm sorry but I didn't call you to dance with me."

He jumped down from the box and made his way to her. The princess let down her hands and wondered about the boy, but she didn't say anything.

"My name is Jäger. I was instructed by my Master to call you back. She is the one who wishes to see you. Your dance, to be precise."

" Why does she need my help? Would you please tell me everything?"

Jäger stood right in front of her now and looked straight into her eyes. Princess Tutu backed off a little. His eyes were cold as ice and intense.

"I've finally found you my princess.."

Jäger gave off a warm smile and Tutu looked at him irritated. But before she could ask anymore questions he disappeared in a flash of snowflakes and flew out of the tower. Tutu looked after him, and after a few seconds turned back into Ahiru.

She wondered who that person was and why he didn't explain anything to her. She embraced herself as she felt cold and made her way back to Fakirs house. She hoped that he at least knew what was going on. Or that they could at least figure out who that Person was. How did he know about Tutu? What could all this mean...

* * *

So, this my first time writing a fanfic. The story is already thought through. I actually wanted to make it a doujinshi but reconsidered because it would be way to long and I'm not that good at drawing.

Thanks to my friend who beta-read this chapter although he had no idea what it was about XD.

The beginning is from the end of the anime except for the last 2 sentences. Jäger is the German word for hunter, I thought that it would fit perfectly into a fairytale.

The title for the chapter is german and means: Act 1, The nutcracker: waltz of the snowflakes.

The Lion Tower actually exists in the town the story is based on, in Nördlingen, although I don't know if people can enter it freely or what it looks like on the inside XD.

Please review so I can get better.


	2. Die Hochzeit des Figaro: Overtüre

_Once upon a time, there was an cursed woman who at day was a beautiful woman but at night a flower. The man who wanted to free her from the curse she told this:" Pick me in the day, then I'll be forever yours." But how should he know which flower she is, when he came to the field of flowers?When she was just like the others..._

**Akt 2**

**Die Hochzeit des Figaro:Overtüre**

Fakir was once again sitting in front of his stories, with his head in his hands. Talking with Autor didn't help him to understand what was going on actually and also why the story turned out to be so strange. The day before, after he had talked to Autor he met Ahiru on the way and she told him of some Jäger person who confessed to have turned Ahiru back into a human. He was worried. The writer couldn't tell where this story would lead to. He took the pages in his hand and read them over again.

His thoughts were interrupted by loud footsteps. A moment later Ahiru opened the door, almost falling into Fakirs room and screamed: "I was accepted!"

As Ahiru tried to find her balance, the writer turned around to face her.

" I was accepted to the academy!", she repeated with a big smile.

Fakir looked confused. Ahiru pouted and folded her arms.

" What, did you think I wouldn't make it?"

" No that's not it, it's just... how?"

" Well maybe I AM better at ballet than you think? I thought you would be happy for me..."

" Of course I am. Congratulations."

Ahiru smiled. "Hi hi, thanks! What are you doing anyways?"

The girl tried to look over Fakirs shoulder. She saw the papers on his table and realized immediately what they were.

" Are you writing again? Let me see!"

Ahiru wanted to pass him but he didn't let her.

" You can't read them!", he said with a firm voice.

" But you never let me read anything you write! You always burn the stories when they're finished!"

" Because there is no need for anyone to know that I have this power. It's safer this way. And it's not nice to poke your nose into other people's stories."

"But you do it all the time!"

" Because I'm trying to help! Now get out of here. I need to focus!"

He pushed her outside the room and closed the door behind her. He sighed. That was a close.

Then he turned around and read through the pages once again.

* * *

Since she was accepted to the academy Ahiru didn't need to stay at Fakirs place anymore, but moved into the girls dormitory of the academy. She was so happy when she found out that she would actually get the same room she had before.

As she entered the room, she looked around and realized that it was just like she remembered, only with some Dust here and there. She would need to clean everything up. She could see a few birds sitting outside by the window and peeking into the room and the girl inside. Ahirus eyes finally glued to the lamp that was standing on the table near the window.

" Oh, I totally forgot about you!", she said with a regretful voice, put all her stuff on the floor and sat to the table to clean the lamp with her sleeve.

" I should have told Fakir to get you. I'm really so sorry!"

Ahiru coughed as the dust flew in the air. The lamb glued in response. It seemed to welcome her back. Ahiru smiled at this. She felt like coming home from a long trip. After she cleaned the whole room, she put her clothes into the cupboard and before realizing it, it was already dawn. She went to the Mensa fast to grab something to eat and went to bed early. The next day would be her first Ballet Lesson at the Academy. Once again she'd be able to dance again. She smiled in her sleep.

That night she dreamed of dancing, music and all her friends. Pique, Lilie, Fakir and even Rue and Mytho were there. She smiled and it seemed like she would never stop dancing. A perfect world, just for her.

* * *

" Oh, hello there. Your name was Ahiru right?"

It was morning and the students were doing warming ups. Ahiru, who was stretching her legs on the floor, turned to Pique and Lilie.

" Yes, good morning!"

" So you got accepted to our school, that's wonderful! Now you can share the hardships of a Ballerina with us!", Lilie implied giggling. Ahiru smiled.

" I hope that we can become good friends. I'm a little nervous because today is my first pointe lesson."

" Oh really? I just can't wait for your face contorted with pain!"

Pique ignored Lilies musing and came a little closer to Ahiru.

" Hey I heard that you were with Fakir yesterday. Some people saw you."

Ahiru wondered if she meant the time when she was running through town with only his coat but still said nervously: "Y-yeah, so what about it?"

"So you know him personally?"

Then Ahiru remembered that Pique admired Fakir as a dancer and felt a little relieved. It was just about Fakir.

" Well, you could say we are friends."

Some other girls seemed to have caught the conversation and turned to the two girls.

" Seriously? Hey you think you could introduce me to him or anything? "

"Huh, but why don't you talk to him by yourself? He seems a little mean but he's actually a nice guy. Sometimes."

A girl who listened to the conversation said:" He is the best male dancer of our school after all. You can't just go to his home and try to talk to him."

" Well then try to talk to him in school. That shouldn't be too hard."

Pique shook her head and said: " He's been skipping school lately and we barely see him at the academy ."

Ahiru stopped stretching her legs and looked at the girls that have gathered around. Lilie was still in her Dreamland of the painful Disasters of a Ballerina's Life.

" He's been skipping? But why?"

" You don't know? I thought maybe you could tell us why. Some people say that he's always by the lake writing some stories. I really don't know what to think of that."

Ahiru was silent. It's true that he was often at the lake but she didn't think that he would skip school that often. He loved dancing after all. This wasn't good at all.

Another girl with brown hair asked her:" Maybe you could ask him to come back?"

Although they wanted to chat a little more, the teacher said that the lesson was about to begin and all the girls went to their positions on the Barre.

Ahiru was thinking about Fakir. True, the stories are important, he is trying to correct all of Drosselmeyers mischief. But it didn't seem to make sense to skip the lessons for that. He could easily do it in his free time after school, right? _Maybe he feels just a little bit lonely since Mytho is gone,_ she thought to herself.

Ahiru couldn't concentrate on Fakir . Because when it finally came to the en pointe she could do nothing but feel the pain, pushing all her other thoughts out of her head. She wondered how she could do it so easily as Princess Tutu.

* * *

After the classes were finished, Ahiru stumbled slowly to the Dormitory. Pique and Lilie went into Town to eat some ice cream, since the day was quite warm. Each step was worse than the other and she had to sit down eventually to take a breath. She looked down the street and saw Fakir coming her way. Surprised she jumped up and wanted to run, but she remembered the pain and felt the pain so she could only walk slowly to him and waved her hand. Fakir saw her and walked right towards her.

"I was looking for you. Rätsel cooked and said I should invite you to eat with us, come on."

Fakir turned around to leave but Ahiru stopped him.

" Ah wait not so fast!"

Fakir gave her a curious look. She normally was more energetic than this and would run to the place right away. Ahiru gave him a painful smile.

" Today I wore pointe shoes for the first time. My feet hurt."

Fakir chuckled and the girl gave him a angry look. So they walked slowly, side by side, to the Blacksmith. Ahiru wanted to ask him about class but didn't know how to do it. Then she realized the best thing would be to ask him directly.

" So I heard you're not coming to school anymore. Why is that?"

"Hmm,oh that. I don't know I can't find the time to dance anymore."

"Oh, really?"

" Well, I was thinking to quit the school anyway."

"Quack?", said Ahiru in surprise. And just before it had the same effect on her. She turned into a little Duck and her clothes fell to the ground. Fakir got her out of her clothes and said with a smile:" I wondered if this would happen."

* * *

She turned back at Fakirs place and put her clothes back on. As they all sat down to eat Fakir explained to her:" If I really want to get better at writing I need to work on my stories. And school just takes so much of my time, it's slowing me down. And I don't think that I can do ballet with all my heart anymore. My concern right now is writing."

Ahiru silently listened to his explanation. She didn't like it. The girl was worried that the story-spinning changed her friend and she was worried to loose him. Should she tell him her concern and what she noticed about him lately? She wasn't sure.

" What's wrong Ahiru? Don't you like the food?"

Ahiru turned around to look at Rätsel.

"No it's really good, I was just in thoughts..."

" I see. Well then."

Now that she looked at Rätsel, she seemed to be little off. It was like a notion in her eyes, like they lost a little of their light. The woman gazed into the distance every now and then and didn't smile much. Ahiru wondered what this familiar feeling could be.

"By the way", Charon asked as he had finished his meal. " Why are you still here? Didn't you want to return back to Hans already yesterday?"

Rätsel gave the man a weak smile. " It sounds like you don't want me here Charon."

" That's not what I meant, we're always happy when you visit us. I'm just curious. "

Rätsel sighed and a long silence followed. The Room got cooler. Charon walked over to the oven to put some more wood into it. Ahiru finished her meal and stood up. She felt awkward to stay any longer at the Blacksmith, although it was just a day afar that she shared a room with Rätsel in this house.

" Thanks for the meal Rätsel. I guess I'll go back to the Dormitory now, I still have homework to do."

Fakir wanted to ask her if he should walk her back but Rätsel was faster.

" Would you mind if I came with you? I still have to buy some things in Town."

" Ah no, it's okay."

* * *

" So you're worried about him?", Rätsel asked as they walked to the Dormitory. Ahiru nodded.

" But i'm sure he won't listen to me. He can be so stubborn and I do understand him but still.."

Silence. Ahiru embraced herself to protect herself from the cold.

" Brrr, it's getting cold. Winter is really coming, isn't it?"

" Hmm, yeah it really is coming fast. You know the best thing right now is to not think of the cold."

"How?", Ahiru asked and wondered if she would say to think of warm things. But she didn't.

" Alright try to do this Riddle. What slew none, and yet slew twelve?"

Ahiru looked into the sky and thought about it. She mumbled the words over and over again but couldn't think of a solution. She folded her arms and closed her eyes as if it would help her find a solution. But it didn't . The melody was pleasant and seemed to encourage her to think harder. But to no avail. She sighed and turned to Rätsel to tell her that she had no idea and was really curious about the solution. But she didn't say a word and widened her eyes instead. Rätsel gazed into the far distance, her eyes were blank. And the melody that Ahiru could hear came from her! How could this be? She couldn't really say what melody it was but that didn't concern her right now. Could this be connected to Jäger?

Ahiru turned to Rätsel with worry and touched her arm.

" Rätsel are you alright? What's wrong? Hey!"

Rätsel stopped and so did Ahiru.

" It doesn't matter anymore."

" What do you mean? What is going on?"

" I was so naive to marry him. He doesn't need me. I don't need him. He doesn't know me at all."

A strong wind started to blow. Out of nowhere Jäger appeared in a flash of white snowflakes and bowed before the two women. Ahiru looked at him shocked.

" It's finally time. The Snow Queen will welcome you Rätsel."

Ahiru looked at him in disbelief. She didn't understand anything what Jäger was talking about. As a big door made of glass(or was it ice?) appeared behind him Rätsel walked towards the door. It struck Ahiru and she transformed into Princess Tutu. Jäger watched as she tried to stop Rätsel from walking towards the door.

"Wait", said the Ballerina in her soft voice. Rätsel turned around to her.

" Where are you going Rätsel?"

"The Snow queen. She's the only one who will appreciate me. I can be useful to her, even if it's only a little."

"But why? Do you really want to leave everybody behind who loves you? Who you love?", said the Ballerina, putting her hands on her heart.

Rätsel seemed to think for a moment.

" They don't really need me."

" But what about Hans your husband? Don't you want to see him again?"

Tutu came closer towards the woman, but Rätsel turned again to the door.

" He could have anybody. I was naive to believe that I was something special to him. And I even chose him over Charon..."

Princess Tutu danced even closer to her.

" Do you really believe this? Isn't there a reason why he chose you instead of anybody else? He loved you and wanted to marry you. And you also chose him. Do you think you can just forget about that?"

Rätsel hesitated. The sound was distorted. Princess Tutu could reach her. Jäger also realized this as he looked closely at the scene. Princess Tutu persuaded Rätsel even further. She danced in beauty and with a gentle smile.

" Everybody has doubts about love. It sometimes hurts. But when you fall in love it gives you wings to fly. It gives you courage because you're not alone. You're never alone. "

The ballerina took Rätsels hand and looked her straight in the eyes.

" You will always be loved."

A single tear rolled down Rätsels cheek. It glittered in the light as it fell to the ground. But instead of dropping like water, the tear fell with a chink, as if it formed solid.

Princess Tutu caught Rätsel as she fainted and laid her down. She then turned to Jäger who applauded her.

" I guess you really are Princess Tutu, the Princess of the People's hearts. You even broke the Queen's spell of the magic mirror."

Princess Tutu gave him a serious look. She stood before him with her head up high.

" Why did you do this? I thought you needed my help."

" I never said I needed you help. Take it as an invitation you can't decline."

Tutu blinked." What do you mean?"

" Your Pendant. It is also a fragment of the Queen's magic mirror mixed with the soul that changed you into Princess Tutu. It took me a while to find you. I never thought you'd be a little yellow Duck. But I have my sources." A little mouse ran around his legs, sniffing in Tutus direction.

The Ballerina looked at her Pendant. She took it into her hand and looked again at Jäger.

" So... what do you want from me? Why did you look for me?"

" I told you didn't I? She heard of your beautiful dance and wanted to see it."

Tutu was silent. Then she gave him a gentle smile.

" I'm sorry I can't go with you. You shouldn't force people to come with you. Please, tell this your Queen. I'm only dancing for those who need my help. So please don't take other people with you."

Jäger gave her a vicious smile.

" So you think you're needed here?"

" Huh? N-no but..". She thought for a moment and when answered: " It's just... This is where I belong. I don't want to leave. You can have the Pendant back but I won't leave this place. If there's need i'm sure Princess Tutu will appear again."

Jäger played with the flute in his hand. The mouse was crawling up his leg.

" I see. Maybe you should wonder how I found you in the first place."

Tutu looked at him with curious eyes, still holding on the Pendant.

" Isn't your friend a writer whose stories come true? Didn't you wonder if he might write a story about you?"

" But he said he didn't.."

" People lie you know. Maybe I'm even his creation, the Queen as well. This could be all thanks to him."

" No that can't be true, that wouldn't be like him."

But as she said it doubts arouse in her. What if he did write a story about her. Has he wanted her to leave? But he would never put Rätsel in Danger! But what if it was just a coincidence that Rätsel was involved. Jäger could see how her own thoughts scared her more and more. " He wouldn't..", she mumbled. The boy smiled even more.

" How can you be sure of all that? With somebody like that writer your whole life could be a lie. Maybe you're a Prima donna? Maybe you're actually human and not a little duck? Who knows how much he messed up your own life? But it's boring to play with the same toy everyday, don't you think?"

" You know nothing about Fakir!", the girl shouted and was also surprised about her loud voice. She looked at him with fierce eyes without blinking. Jäger grunted. He bowed before her, the mouse now sitting on his shoulder.

" We'll see each other again, my Princess."

" No wait-".

But he already disappeared into the little Snowflakes and was blown away by the wind. Ahiru clenched her hands around the Pendant as she turned back. She couldn't forget about his words and felt miserable. She couldn't say if they were true or false. It scared her. What if she became a burden to Fakir?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the awaking Rätsel. She ran to her to help her up.

" What happened to me? I feel dizzy."

" You just fainted I guess. Are you alright, Rätsel?"

Rätsel hold her head with her hand and looked a little confused to the girl. Ahiru sighed in relief as she realized that the older women eyes glittered with light just like before. She was okay now. After Rätsel stood up they both wanted to leave for the Dormitory. Ahiru caught the sight of the fragment that Rätsel had in her eye on the ground. She picked it up and put it into her pocket. Then she turned around and ran to Rätsel who was wondering what she had been doing.

* * *

The next day Ahiru took all her courage to talk to Fakir. She told him about the incident with Rätsel and handed the fragment to him.

She was determined, but after all didn't tell him yet about Jägers accusations. She was too scared of the answer.

But Fakir didn't realize Ahirus torment and walked in his room up and down.

" So it's another story. A story about a Snow Queen... a mirror... I wonder if it's Drosselmeyer's new story. What do you think?"

" I... I don't know."

Fakir sighed. He should figure this out as soon as possible. Rätsel was involved after all and nobody could tell what other things would happen. _He is really worried, right? It's not fake..., _Ahiru thought to herself.

" Rätsel left in the morning so she should be good. I'll see what I can find about a magic mirror. You shouldn't worry about this okay?"

Ahiru turned to him as he was about to leave and wanted to say something." Fakir, I..."

Fakir looked at her. But Ahiru couldn't put her thoughts into words. She sighed and shook her head.

" It's nothing. Just be careful."

Fakir gave her a curious look and left. Ahiru stood alone in his room. Clenching her Pendant again she could feel the cold glass in her fingers.

* * *

If I wasn't so lazy, this chapter would have been up much sooner XD. Still I had some issues with this chapter. Especially writing about Tutu was hard, but I guess it's okay. This chapter has way to much dialogue -_-'.

Fairytale: "A riddling Tale"

Rätsels Riddle is from the Fairy Tale "The Riddle". I just couldn't resist, okay? After all Rätsel does mean Riddle in German XD.

Title: The Marriage of Figaro: Overture, one of Mozarts Operas

I guess that's all :)

Sorry if I made many grammar or spelling mistakes ^^'.

Also for those who didn't see it: I changed the passage with Pique and Lilie in chapter one.

_" But we're almost done with school, so obviously some people do look up to us!"_

_"We just started en pointe last summer!"_

So it's just a few months later or maybe just weeks.

I'll try to do the 3. chapter a little bit faster XD.


	3. La Esmeralda

_Once upon a time there was girl that was adored by everyone by her dance and beauty. However, she only loved one man. That naive little girl. How would she react, when she found out that her only love is false?_

**Akt 3**

**La Esmeralda **

In another place, far far away, lived Rue with her Prince. All her dreams came true, when he asked her to be his princess. The raven was dead, the town saved, and she found the happiness she always wanted.

Rue wondered about this. True, she lived a fairytale now, a girl's dream to all extent. Still she felt that something was missing. Mytho was there. His gentle smile calmed her and confirmed that it wasn't a dream. But he wasn't always around. As a prince he had other duties to attend to, leaving Rue on her own, with only the maids to take care of her needs.

No, it wasn't anything missing. It was rather the fact that she wanted more. She wanted to see Mytho more often, to keep him to herself.

She wasn't particularly lonely. The people in the kingdom welcomed her as the princess and seemed to like her a lot. She was amazed how much affection the townspeople showed to her, but they couldn't fill Rue's heart completely. She wanted to be with Mytho. And she was scared of that. She was scared that no matter how many times she told herself that it had to be like that, that she couldn't help it, the more she longed for him. She still felt the darkness of the monster raven in her. Weak, but it was still there.

Even more she was frightened, to be overwhelmed by her emotions. _Everybody loves me here,_ she thought to herself,_ so why can't I feel happiness at it fullest? Why is it still only Mytho I can think of?_

The burden on her heart felt heavier each day. It took her a while to tell her prince about her problem, and most important of all, her resolution.

* * *

"AHIRU!"

Pique broke her train of thoughts as she almost screamed in her ear. But Ahiru just mildly reacted to the shouting, turned her head to the girl and asked:"What is it?"

The ballet class was on a trip to the eleki group which visited the the little town again. Today, they would perform only for the students. Everyone was excited, reminiscing their last visit.

Pique sighed.

" What is it with you? I asked if you talked to Fakir about it!"

"What? Why should I? What is it to you?"

Lilie rubbed Ahirus head.

" Oh stupid little Ahiru. Did you forget that it was a favor for Pique to ask Fakir to come back to school?"

"Oh, that... Well, it doesn't look like he'll return anytime soon. Maybe he will never..."

Pique made a grimace and grunted. She told Ahiru that she should ask him again, but Ahiru didn't listen anymore. Her thoughts returned to Fakir and his stories. She couldn't ask Fakir if Jägers accusations were true or false. She was scared of what he might answer. Her uncertainty made her feel even more frightened. She didn't trust Fakir, and this made her feel even more miserable. There were no secrets between them, at least that was what Ahiru thought. But then she also remembers the fact that she is not allowed to read his stories. Was he really trying to get rid of her? But then, why didn't he say so?As she thought about the possibility that he might, her heart ached.

She walked along with Pique and Lilie, who gave up talking to her and discussed what the reason for her behavior was. At the Theater, where the Eleki Troupe had their performance, the teacher introduced the students to the dancers.

"We decided to perform a classic ballet which is almost forgotten:La Esmeralda. It's based on the book Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Today I will show you a variation of Esmeralda since we're not completely done with the practice for the whole piece."

As the variation was presented, Ahiru tried to forget about Fakir for a moment and tried to remember the plot of la Esmeralda. It was a story about a gipsy girl who fascinated everybody. If it wasn't her looks then the beauty of her dance. She married Gringoire to save him from death, although she had no feelings for him at all. No, her one and only love was the captain of the knights. For her it was love at first sight and she wanted no other man. But the poor girl was used by the man who was still childish innocent. For him it was just another affair and he didn't care about her furthermore. She had to lose her life because she was accused of killing him. On the other hand there was Frollo who, for the first time, had romantic feelings for another person. It devoured him from inside, he couldn't bear being without her and finally sealed her death in his madness until he himself left for the afterlife.

A bittersweet story. A story about unrequited love. Ahiru could understand as much.

After the variation ended, everyone clapped and were fascinated by the dance and choreography with the tambourine. The teacher tried to cease the chatter and announced a break for the students before they asked questions to the cast of dancers. Ahiru walked after Pique and Lilie, trying to join their chatter.

"I'm sorry...Ahiru? Can I talk to you?"

Ahiru turned around to face a classmate of hers. She looked a little nervous. Ahiru couldn't recall the girls name, but that didn't matter to her right now.

" Sure, what is it?"

" Well you see, I was wondering if-"

" No leave me alone!"

Another girls scream disturbed the two classmates conversation. Ahiru could see Freya near the stage, arguing with some other girls. Freya took a step backwards as the girls tried to persuade her.

" We didn't say anything like that, please believe us! Who told you that?"

Freya spoke with a broken voice and her hair fell into her face.

" I heard it myself! I thought we were friends..."

" But we are!", said another girl.

" We'd never say anything nasty about you! You must have heard someone else say that!"

Freya held her ears and closed her teary eyes.

" Stop it! I don't want to hear it anymore! Leave me alone!" And with this words she ran behind the stage. As she turned and let down her hands, a little earring glittered in the light of the lamps.

Ahiru recognized its resemblance to the piece of glass Rätsel had before._ It must be connected to the Snow queen and Jäger, _Ahiru thought as she chased after Freya and left her classmate behind who didn't even try to hold her back.

Ahiru ran to Freyas friends who didn't know what to do. Each one of them had a hurt expression on their face. Something was wrong after all.

As Ahiru stepped behind the curtain, Princess Tutu appeared in all her beauty. But what she found wasn't Freya. Standing close to her, it was yet again Jäger with a mild smile on his lips.

"How do you do?"

Tutu was startled for a moment but pulled herself together again. She folded her hands over her chest.

" Why are you still doing this? This is wrong."

"Oh come on. I don't force anyone! Everybody can decide freely if they want to go."

" You know that it's not true. "

He turned around with a smile and took a few steps.

" You shouldn't disturb the Queens wishes. She can be very nasty if something doesn't go her way. The last time was interesting, but you better don't do that again. I can't tell what the Queen will do. I can't go against her will, even if it's you."

As he spoke Tutu remembered something.

" You..know me, right? That I'm the princess of the story..."

Jäger stopped and listened.

" Say, why were you trying to find me?..You even called me your princess..."

Jäger turned around . For a moment, Tutu could read sadness in his eyes, but it disappeared as soon as she realized it. He fully turned around to her and grinned.

" You're curious? Well , I'm in no position to tell you. But don't you have other matters to take care of? What about your lovely writer boy? "

Tutu blinked and looked away. She wanted to leave, and walked aside Jäger, so she could go see Freya, but suddenly he stood before her again. Surprised she looked up to him. He shook his head.

"You can't run away from this."

The princess took a step back and said weakly:" This has nothing to do with you. I need to help Freya now."

He didn't let her pass. Tutu felt miserable she wanted to run away from it. The more she thought about it, the more desperate she became. What is true or false? She didn't know. Only Fakir could release her from her doubt. But it could also become a curse.

The mere thought weakened her greatly. Her head was spinning again.

" He wouldn't do something like that.."

" You're saying that again? Why don't you ask him then? Or is it that you already know the answer?"

Tutu legs felt weak. Jäger held her hand and supported her.

" He wants you to leave this place. He wants to be alone. Why don't you see it? "

Jäger put his hand around her waist. Before she knew it, the Prima donna was dancing a pas de deux with the boy. No, that didn't seem right. The Princess could barely take a step alone. It was more like Jäger who leaded and supported her every step. She felt like an invalid but let him do as he pleased. Like a puppet moved by it's master, she didn't even considered to go against his will.

" You can come to the Queen, if that's your wish. You'll be most welcomed princess."

The proposition sounded nice. A place where she is needed and accepted, not standing in anyones way. The best for everyone. She almost didn't hear the little voice in her head that said that this is wrong. It was the easiest way, the safest. A melody arouse and pushed away the little voice in her head. Her eyes were half closed as her partner pulled her closer to him.

From afar, another melody could be heard. A violin, with a beautiful calming melody. It found it way to Tutus ear. Her eyes grew big and she freed herself from Jägers grip. Jäger grunted, looked at Tutu, then turned to the place the melody came from.

" That pest. Doesn't she know her place yet?"

He flinched and disappeared in a flash of Snowflakes. Tutu, after recollecting her thoughts, also turned in the direction where the melody came from. The sound of the violin saved her from being controlled, or rather the melody. She pulled herself together and followed the sound.

In a lightened room, she found Freya lying on the floor with a calm face. The earring wasn't on her ear anymore. Next to the girl stood another person. She wore a beautiful blue dress, on her hand wrist a flower that shone in the light. Her hair was put together in a knot with a crown in form of a star on top. Two twirled hair strains fell into her face. Her shoes were plateaus, not that of a ballerina. In her hand she held Freya's earring, glittering in the light. She looked at it as she closed her hand.

Princess Tutu came closer to her. Slowly and cautious.

" Who are you?", she asked in her heart melting voice as she approached the girl.

The girl turned to her in shock and took a step back, pulling the stone closer to her body. She looked at the princess with wide eyes.

Tutu looked at her curiously and gave her a light smile. She reached out a hand.

"Don't be scared."

The other girl pulled herself together. After closing her eyes for a moment, she opened them yet again. With a serious but calm look she said:"After all, it seems I can't do it. I'm sorry."

Before Tutu could say anything else, she disappeared with a swift wind of sparkles.

She thought for a second about her words before turning back into a normal girl and helping Freya, who just started to wake up.

* * *

After Rue was finished, Mytho only stared at her. Then after while he found his words again.

"What do you mean by that?", was the only thing he could say.

"I'm not capable of being a princess. I will leave this castle."

She turned away so she wouldn't meet his gaze. But she could still feel his eyes in her back.

" I...I would still like to stay in the kingdom if that is alright with you. The people here are very nice to me."

" You're running away from the problem."

Rue turned around furious."I am not!"

" Instead of leaving, we could try to find a way to get through this together. I also have the ravens blood inside of me after all." Mytho touched his chest as he spoke those words.

He stepped closer to his princess. A gentle smile on his lips.

" We will find a way together there is no reason for you to leave...I don't want you to leave!"

His words weakened Rues determination. She really wanted to stay. But what if she hurt him again or the people around her? She wanted to protest but the words didn't came out. She felt small.

Mytho embraced her. She could feel his warmth.

"Give me some time, I will find a way. I promise.", he whispered in her ear.

Rue put her head on his shoulder.

"I don't like it. It will hurt..."

* * *

Class was over and Ahiru was on her way to the Dormitory. She lost sight of Pique and Lilie but she didn't realize it herself. She was still in her thoughts. She was in pain. She didn't understand why, but Jägers words always went under her skin.

She folded her cold hands and finally decided. There was no reason to keep it all to herself. Last time she couldn't ask Fakir about it, but she wouldn't turn away this time. Everything will be alright. She believed in this and these words warmed her up a little. She ran for a while before she figured that she had no idea where Fakir was. She decided to check Autors place first, because Fakir seemed to trust Autor with this situation.

She stopped at the door in silence. She stood still until she finally decided to reach out to knock on the door. Her heart was beating fast and her face was heating up.

Just before her hand touched the door, it opened on it's own. It almost hit Ahiru in the face but she luckily backed up in time. It was Fakir himself who had opened the door and now looked amazed at the girl.

"What are you doing here? Did something happen again?"

At first she stared and then looked at her feet. Her courage left her for a moment.

"Well yeah but... that's not why I'm here actually. I guess."

"Huh?"

As Fakir waited for her to speak, Ahiru felt like she was just about to jump into ice cold water. She breathed, closed her eyes for a short moment and forced herself to look into Fakirs eyes.

"Did you... write a story about me?"

No words were said. But one look into his eyes and she knew she was right. He turned away, almost ashamed. And pulled himself away from her a little.

Ahiru looked to the ground with big eyes. In her head, every word Jäger had said was putting themselves in Line. _He really did. He's tired of me and wants me to leave? Why! Why didn't he say anything? Why did he lie?_

"...Why?", she finally asked in a weak voice. Fakir looked at her. She was shaking and her voice sounded like she was about to cry.

"It was okay the way it was right? So why did you write my story?"

Fakir sighed and spoke in a calm voice." Things change..."

"Then why didn't you say anything? Anything! Did you even consider that I don't want anything to change? You didn't think about my feelings all!"

"You're feelings? What about mine? I just couldn't help it!"

As they were getting louder, Autor wondered about the ruckus outside, while he was reading in the back of the room. He asked them to be quiet without lifting his head from the text but the two were to embraced in their fight.

"Just because you have that power doesn't mean that you can toy around with me like that! I thought you were different from Drosselmeyer, Fakir!"

"I'm not the same as him! You should know that, of all people!"

Ahiru made a step backwards and looked at him in disbelief. She started crying.

"I hate you... I hate you! You're the worst!", she said, getting louder with every word.

Fakir looked at her, irritated and in disbelief. He wanted to say something and reached out his hand to her but she only cried "Don't touch me!", and stepped to the side , before she finally turned around and ran away.

Fakir watched her run, not moving a finger, still in shock of her words. His mind went blank as he turned around to get back into the room. He seated himself fast and got all the utensils he needed for writing. Autor watched curiously at his sudden urge to write, as it seemed to him.

Fakir took the feather with ink and started to write the first words on the paper. But then he stopped. He gazed upon his right hand, his scar to be exact. Memories coming back to him like the rain, slowly falling and sinking. He put the Duck feather to the side and buried his face in his hands, his body shaking lightly.

* * *

Yeah 4 weeks later XD

Sorry it took me so long to update. My life changed a little in the past few weeks and i was also to lazy to write anything XD.

This chapter came out a little shorter, I'm not sure why. Maybe because there's not much happening although it's quite important. Or maybe it's just my lack of talent XD But I'm writing so i could improve anyway.

I also had to cut some passages because otherwise they had given away to much.

Also introducing another OC :D I actually wanted to put a link here so people could see how i imagined her (her design took me some time) but i still don't have a proper picture of her on my pc, or they are incomplete. I'll try to make one before the next chapter.

I wasn't sure, after I've written it, if Ahiru would actually know anything about a ballet that was almost forgotten and which nowadays isn't presented that often either. But i was worried the chapter would be to short i just kept. I guess it's not to strange. She knew about Coppelia after all, so she is actually capable of paying attention in class XD

So if you didn't realize it yet, the tale at the beginning is about Notre-Dame. I'm actually not that sure how much it differs from the actual ballet but i saw a version on Youtube and it seems more or less accurate. La Esmeralda was was revived in 1886 and 1899 by Marius Petipa, that's why i wrote that it's a forgotten ballet.

And you should definitely watch la Esmeralda Variation on youtube, there are many. It's really hard but i like the dance very much. The pas de deux between Jäger and Tutu was inspired by a pas de deux between Esmeralda and Gringoire, you might want to check it out.

And may i add how i hate some parts of this story? It's not the plot, I still it's okay but hell some passages are way to short! I feel so lame, it feels like i want to get over this story fast :(

Ah yes, there's a lot (I mean really a lot) of drama in this chapter XD But it won't stay this way too long, don't worry

And there's gonna be a "special" character in the next chapter :D

Wow this became really long... I'm gonna talk about Rue and Mytho in the next chapter they appear, that would be 5 i guess


	4. Nocturne

_Once upon a time, there were 3 princes, each one wanted to succeed their fathers throne. The king decided to solve this problem by a competition between them. His sons were supposed to bring him the worlds greatest treasures. To decide the brothers route, the king blew 3 feathers into the air. One feather flew to the east, the second to the west. Yet the third feather fell to the floor. The youngest of them had to stay at the castle. Staying at the one place he knew, there was no way for him to win._

**Akt 4: **

**Nocturne**

A sleepless night. It passed so fast. Ahiru was sitting at the window, curled together like a cat. She didn't feel the cold in her fingers or her feet. On her face were still traces of tears. Her head rested on her arms.

Outside, one could already hear the first birds singing, a few flew freely in the air. The sky was clear of any clouds, though the weather got colder with everyday. The migratory birds already left for the warmer regions.

As Ahiru lifted her head to look out of the window, she thought about skipping school that day. She didn't want to see anybody right now. She looked at the lamp at her side. It glowed through the whole night, brightly shining for it's master. But it couldn't bring light or warmth into Ahirus heart. She felt as if there was a big hole in her chest, pierced violently.

Last night she, maybe for hours, walked aimlessly through the streets. Her tears were falling continuously and she was shaking all over. It was way to much to hear Fakir say those words. She wished she hadn't asked him at all, to be kept in the dark forever. Is this how it feels when you wish to rip out your heart?

After she finally came back to the dormitory she sat directly by the window. She hadn't the power to change or rather she didn't care at all. The lamp was the only light source in the room, anything else was dark. Not even the sun from outside could erase the darkness in the room.

Still the the light of the lamp tried to embrace the little girl in the room. The light arouse, and hands tightened around Ahiru.

" Let me shine for you, my dear.", said the lamp in a soft voice.

Ahiru turned to her slowly. She had an empty expression on her face and wasn't even surprised.

"I thought you couldn't reappear like this again."

The spirit took the girls face in both of her hands.

" A piece of ice flew through the air when the window was open and found it's way to me. It lets me appear in front of you."

Ahiru touched her light hand with hers.

"It must be one of the Queen's. Please let me help you."

The spirit shook her head, not averting her eyes from Ahiru.

"It's alright. It was cold, but you enlightened my heart again." She embraced Ahiru. "Your cried so much the whole night and I shone the brightest to put a smile back on your face, but I couldn't. The warmth melted the ice, it will soon disappear. But before that. Won't you give me your smile? Please."

"I'm sorry", cried Ahiru as she wrapped her arms around the spirit of the lamp."I'm sorry, I can't do that. It hurts too much. If I smile I would be only lying. I'm sorry."

Under the coat of light Ahiru shook lightly. The Light slowly faded. The spirit leaned down to the girl and asked, as she wiped away one of her tears:" What could hurt you so much to be so sad? You've always been so strong."

Ahiru shook her head hard. She wasn't strong. She never was. She only did the little she could and had to leave the rest to others. She was just a mere Duck and no more.

But why did it hurt so much? Ahiru got silent as she thought about those words. She couldn't compare the pain to anything she experienced before. She took the Pendant and looked at it. The egg shaped gem was cold, with the little snowflake still inside.

_This was given to me by the Queen as well, right?_, she thought. _Maybe that's why I'm acting so strange..__.but is it that really?_ She couldn't shake off the feeling that it wasn't only the Queen's magic that made her feel so miserable. There was more.

The spirit's touch slowly disappeared and the light faded. Her smile was still bright but sad at the same time.

"You need to smile again little one. I can't enlighten your road when you don't have the will to walk it down. But even so, I will always be by your side."

The spirit disappeared and only the little lamp shone in the room. Ahiru embraced herself, tears kept falling. Although the spirits words should have comfort her, they only reminded her of an old promise.

* * *

After a while, Ahiru decided to leave the Dormitory. Class had already started. She walked through the empty streets of Goldcrown. The streets were full of colorful leaves. Looking at the empty sky she wondered if she might run into Fakir. What would he say, what would she say? She didn't know.

She looked down to her feet. What should she do now? She didn't have the strength to see Fakir again. Maybe she should leave, just like he wanted her to. But where to? She only knew the lake and that was just outside of town. _Maybe the life of a Duck is the only option for me?_ She thought as she twirled the Pendant in her hand. She thought about Jäger and the Queen. She could go to her. A place where she's welcomed, a place where she'd be needed. She almost forgot Jägers ways to fulfill the Queens wishes. There was no other place to go,the place she called home was no more.

A cold breeze struck her back. Leaving everything behind shouldn't be so hard, but the girl felt attached to the town, even to the painful memories. A feather crossed her way and landed before her feet. She stopped. Ahiru knelled down and picked up the feather. It was almost white. The girl turned the feather in her hand. Flying away a like a feather in the wind. Nothing to worry about, not caring where the wind takes you. Ahiru wished the wind would also tell her where to go and what to do. She stood up, still holding the feather in her hand. The wind started blowing again. Ahiru raised her hand and let go of the feather. It flew up high in the air before deciding for a route. Ahiru followed the way of the feather from the bottom. She didn't know why, but she needed help to decide where to go and what to do. She was to irritated lately to make a solid decision.

At first she could walk but after a while the feather was blown so far ahead that she had to run. She had to take few turns and ran through half the town it seemed. The wind didn't stop and Ahiru felt like running until death. But the feather slowed down and moved to the ground again. Ahiru stopped and her eyes widened. The wind led the feather, and the feather brought her to Autors room, where he collected all of Drosselmeyers goods. The place Fakir spent a lot of time, when he wasn't at the lake.

She held her hands close to her heart. She didn't want to meet him after all. What should she say to him? She wanted to turn but she couldn't. Her eyes were still fixed on the door. _Maybe I should at least say goodbye?,_ she thought to herself. She hesitated, but finally took the first step.

She knocked. First there was silence, but then the door opened. It wasn't Fakir standing there.

" What are you doing here?", asked Autor in a annoyed way.

Ahiru blinked. She didn't expect Autor to show up, although it was his place.

"Um, I- I wanted to talk to Fakir.."

" He's not here right now. I think he went to school today. What are you doing here anyway? Didn't you have a fight yesterday or something?"

Autor kept talking as he turned to the room and walked deeper inside. Ahiru followed him. Ahiru flinched as he mentioned the day before. She tried to keep her voice calm, cleaning her face with a sleeve of her pullover.

" Did you talk to him about that?", she asked curiously.

"No." Ahiru sighed.

"He left shortly after you. I didn't notice when. I was reading until late night."

Ahiru looked at the table which was full of written papers. This was Fakirs handwriting. She scratched her right hand. Autor crammed his stuff. He had shadows beneath his eyes.

" I'm late for class, so if you don't want to go to school today, you can wait for him here."

"Is that okay?"

"I don't care.", Autor answered nerved. He still seemed to be very sleepy. He walked out the door before Ahiru could say anything else. The door was slammed. She was left alone again.

She walked a few steps in the room and then decided to sit down on the bench. She nervously tipped with her fingers on her knees as she dared a look to the desk. Fakir never let her read any of his stories, not even one. This could be her chance, maybe her one and only. But she struggled. _What if I read my own story? Do I really want to read it?_

For a moment there was only the ticking of the clock and Ahirus slow breath. Then the floor creaked and the papers rustled. Ahiru held her breath as she moved the sheets closer to her face, closed her eyes for a moment and then started to read the text. It was in the middle of a story.

..._had never felt this kind of sensation before. He had so many hardships in front of him but he could __feel, that he can overcome anything. He would return home and start studying again so he could __catch up to the same material as his classmates. Right now, it was only important, that he regained __his __will to fight..._

Ahiru sat down while reading every word of the story. She caught herself smiling, almost forgetting her heavy heart. She imagined him writing at the lake while she swam around in the water. She forgot how much time had passed as she kept on reading. It enlighten her heart to see the fruits of Fakirs hard work.

As she turned to the next page in her hand Ahiru realized something odd.

... _dancing until dawn, day after day. Pique danced to her hearts extent, not wishing to get better but to feel the sensation of a real ballerina. She closed her eyes to imagine herself on a stage, not worried anymore if she did everything alright. The girl danced and felt the joy that she used to feel before. Gazing outside the window,Pique looked at the blue sky. Little birds were flying around wildly in the air. They took a turn and flew outside the town, to a little lake with a gangplank. A little Duck, which was still asleep, was sitting in the fresh green grass. She dreamed of dancing and her prince, her ballet shoes, her life when she was human..._

Ahiru was confused. Why did Fakir jump to her story all of a sudden? She was never in danger or hurt when she was a bird. No reason to write her story. The passage stopped as soon as it popped up. In the next line he was yet again writing about somebody called Franz who seemed to fall into thievery because he lost all his money. But as she kept on reading, she found even more passages where Fakir just bluntly wrote about the little duck. She looked through all the papers on the table and stood up in excitement. She didn't know why she was that excited.

She kept wondering why he wrote so many things about her without a reason. concerned She looked at the passages, but just one finally caught her eye. It was a crumbled piece of paper, hidden under the others. It was different then the others.

_She slept softly in the darkness of the night. The sun said goodbye hours ago but she wanted to be awake as long as the writer was there, but had to give in. The writer's lantern wouldn't burn much longer but he kept on writing. Whenever he had to think about what to write he just looked at the little yellow duck and he knew why he was writing. That he could help others by his writing, turning it in the right direction. But he couldn't lie to himself. The writer was in a dilemma. Only slowly had he realized that his selfish desires grew stronger by day. His dreams were haunted by it. He still knew the way she always smiled, her sometimes weird behavior, that she sometimes annoyed him to no end. _

_But still. His only wish right now was to bring back her humanity. _

Ahiru calmed down as she read through the lines. She started shaking lightly.

" This is different", she whispered. "That's not what I imagined..."

_But no matter his wishes, he couldn't bring himself to do it. As a human, she got hurt so many times, accepting it with a smile. He remembered her sad smile every time he wished to bring her back. He wouldn't turn her into a human with one of his story. But, if by any chance she could be turned back, he wouldn't hesitate to stay by her side to protect her. So he asked the wind and the sky for an resolution. Which way to go or if it was supposed to stay the way it was. Soon, the northern wind would bring the answer. The change of seasons always changes the people who live through them. Nothing would be the same anymore. _

Just as Ahiru finished the page the door opened. She looked to her left to meet Fakirs gaze. His eyes were wide open.

Time stood still for a moment. But after a second reality moved again. Ahiru looked aside, blushing a little. She could hear Fakirs footsteps coming closer.

" You weren't in class today... ", he said.

Ahiru didn't know what to say to him. After a pause Fakir talked again.

" Look I... I never meant to hurt you or anything, and I'm sorry it turned out this wa-"

Ahiru turned abruptly to him. "You could have said something! How was I supposed to know what's going on?"

Fakir was confused by her sudden outburst but got a little angry himself.

" You know it now right? So what are you screaming for?"

Ahiru shook her head.

" I only understood it after I read it! Why didn't you say yesterday that-"

" You read it?"

Ahiru put her hand on her mouth. _Crap_.

Fakir came closer to her, his voice a little lighter.

"Wait, so you mean you weren't mad because you were turned into a human again?"

Ahiru almost whispered. "Of course not... I was happy, didn't you see?"

Fakir leaned against the wall as he slowly drove down it, burying his head in his arms. Ahiru leaned down to him , because she was worried. She could see him smile lightly.

" I see...", he whispered.

Ahiru blinked once. She sat down right next to him. She pulled her knees closer to her body and watched the ceiling of the room. For moment, they just sat right next to each other, enjoying the others' company. Fakir was the first to speak again.

"Then, what was yesterday all about? Why were you so mad?"

Ahiru blushed lightly.

"W-well... it's... Jäger said some things that really got into my head. He said, that you wrote a story about me so you could get rid of me. I really thought you've wanted to break your promise...", she mumbled into her knees.

Fakir looked at her leaning his head against his left hand.

"Stupid. I would never do that."

_I know that,_she thought to herself, but the words didn't came out. Instead, she tried to understand.

" But really, why didn't you say anything? I really wanted to be human again, to dance again, to meet everyone like usual..."

"It never really looked like it."

_Because I never really missed it that much_, she thought to herself. The next moment she wondered why. She wasn't really lonely as a Duck, right?

"Still, why didn't you say anything."

Fakir leaned his head against the wall. He closed his eyes.

" The real you is a Duck, it always was. I thought, that if I change you into human again, it would only go wrong. Drosselmeyer had spun these kind of stories. Nothing good came out of them, ever. I couldn't forgive myself if I brought you only misery. I rather would have had you as a duck then. I guess it was easier this way."

" May those, who accept their fate, find happiness. May those, who defy their fate, find glory.", remembered Ahiru. Fakir gave her a curious look.

"I don't think... anything is wrong. You've written stories about so many people. You helped them this way." Ahiru looked over to Fakirs stories and Fakir followed her gaze. He was silent.

" You know, I was a little worried when I was a duck."

" Huh? Why?"

" Your eyes." Now she looked straight at him. "They resembled Drosselmeyers. It guess it's a sign that your powers are getting stronger, but I got worried that you'll get carried away."

"...maybe you right."

"What? ", she turned to him in disbelief.

"Lately, I've been starting to write stories... on a whim, not thinking about how to turn it to a better end. Same as with you. At first it was okay, because I only wrote about reality. But as my power grows stronger, reality changes to my wishes more easily. I have to be more careful. Maybe I'll really become like Drosselmeyer someday, not caring about the stories outcome..."

"No you won't", said Ahiru determined.

"How would you know? Didn't you just say that-"

"I was wrong. I did thought that you might become just like Drosselmeyer but now I'm at ease."

" How come?"

"...your stories. When I read them, I could feel that you really cared about the person. You trying to correct all of Drosselmeyers tales in this town and even went beyond that. "

" That doesn't mean that I won't change for bad."

" You won't."

" Ahiru, I could change! What if I find joy in hurting other people, messing with their lives, see them struggle for their lives!", Fakir shouted.

"Because you experienced it once! You and the people around you were affected by the stories. Me, Rue, Mytho and ...even your parents. You yourself struggled for so long and saw other people suffer! As long as you don't forget about it I won't worry. And I know, that you won't forget."

Fakir was stunned. He couldn't say anything for a moment, just meeting her gaze. But the silence was cut by neither of them.

"Well, it seems like I'm not needed here anymore."

Ahiru was surprised because she didn't hear anybody come in, although she now could see,as she leaned over, that Fakir hadn't closed the door. It was already dark outside.

She couldn't fix the point from where the voice came from. She wondered if she just imagined it but had to rethink that due to the voice calling out again.

"Down here Miss."

Ahiru did look down. And screamed lightly in shock. It was a black and white cat sitting on the floor. He waved his tail on the floor and looked straight up to the humans. Fakir hid his face under his hand. Ahiru pointed at the cat.

"...Mr. Cat?"

"It's rude to point the finger at people or even cats!", the cat hissed. Ahiru pulled her hand back immediately. She looked at Fakir and Mr. Cat vice versa.

"I-I thought he turned into a cat? I mean he obviously did but why can he still talk? Is that how it's supposed to be? Isn't it weird for a cat to talk? What?"

Fakir didn't say anything. But the cat was very talkative.

" This young man wrote a story about me, as far as I understood. You seem familiar but I've never really knew you. Although your face seems very annoying to me. I have no idea why he asked me to help him. I'm just a cat."

" ...Help? Help with what?"

"Well you see-"

"Okay that's enough. get out of here!", Fakir suddenly said and grabbed the cat to take it outside.

Ahiru watched him do this, a little confused. _What was that all about?Why would he-_

Ahiru was reminiscing her old days at the academy and Mr. cat. Although she was really confused that a cat was the teacher, he was at least a good one. Although his proposals were very irritating for her. When he didn't talk about ballet he talked about marriage. Or gave a speech about love.

At this very moment Ahiru made a crazy assumption. _Was it because of me? Because he's in __love...with me?_

As she thought about this she smiled unwillingly and her cheeks turned red. It surprised herself to have this kind of reaction. Why was she so happy about it? Her heart was beating faster. She clenched her fingers and her eyes grew big in realization.

Fakir came back into the room. He breathed out and turned to the girl who was still sitting on the floor with a irritating look on her face.

"What's wrong?", he asked.

She looked at him, wanted to tell him at least something. Ask him about his feelings, the reason why he asked the cat for help. But she couldn't. She remembered Mytho for a moment. At this moment she wasn't comparing her feelings from back then and now. But another important matter came to her mind.

She was Princess Tutu. She was supposed to disappear in a flash of light as she confessed her feelings to her prince. Although it wasn't Mytho, what would happen to her when she told Fakir?

Maybe she got it all wrong again.

So she kept silent, and just shook her head. Fakir reached out his hand to help her up.

"Come, I'll bring you back, it's late."

Ahiru nodded as she took his hand.

* * *

They didn't say a word on the way. Ahiru looked at her feet as she felt her burning cheeks. Somehow, everything changed in a moment. She wondered how long she already held this tender feelings for her escort. Even more, she wondered what he thought about her.

But her thoughts were interrupted. Someone shouted at her.

"Hey!"

Ahiru looked up to see a girl from the academy run towards her. She still wore the uniform. After a moment Ahiru recognized her as the girl who wanted to ask her something the day before after the performance.

As she stopped before them and tried to catch her breath Ahiru took a better look at her. She had brown hair, and two strains of hair were clipped to the side of her face. Ahiru couldn't tell the color of her eyes in the darkness.

"I finally caught you! Why weren't you at school? I thought I missed my chance!"

"Your chance for what?"

The girl breathed in, as to prepare herself for what would come. She had a very serious look.

" You might not remember but we know each other. I'm pretty sure about it!"

"Really? I can't recall-"

" Of course you can't, because that's how it goes! I guess you were turned into a Duck right?"

Ahiru and Fakir looked at the girl, shocked.

"W-w-What are y-you-"

"I know it sounds crazy, but since you're human, it means that you used some kind of trick to turn yourself back. My memory is also coming back to me slowly and it's because of my memento but if I tell you right now you might remember something yourself! The real you is not a Duck but Human! Please remember!"

Ahiru looked at her with big eyes. So did Fakir. They had no words to say. They couldn't comprehend the girls words at first. What was the girl talking about?

Ahirus head was dizzy.

"... How do you know?"

The girl sighed relieved and put on a sweet smile.

" My name is Ella, at least that's what I remember. I can tell you everything I know. And I have to ask you for your help. "

* * *

Cliffhanger! XD yeah sorry about that

Fairytale is "the 3 feathers", it's a cool story really. The youngest brother had to stay at the castle but he found a door which led to a frog who could give him all the treasures, even a girl( which was originally a frog XD)

And the title is from Chopin. Doesn't really have anything to do the story from the title but the melody fits quite good ^^

From now on the story will take a little turn as you can guess. I actually started this story because I wanted to present my version how it could be that Ahiru is actually human. When I started this I was still uncomfortable about the fact that Ahiru is actually a Duck, but now I don't mind it at all. Just a crazy fangirl thought ^^In the next story I write she will be originally a Duck for sure, if it's not an AU fic

Sooooo...anything else?

oh yeah this chapter is the longest i've written yet, and i tried not to use as much dialogue. I think it's 50:50, that makes me happy^^

While i was writing i got myself all sad XD I don't know if it was just my imagination or the music (I was listening to nocturne while writing) but it was really weird XD

Ah yes and there's also Mr. Cat XD i just wanted him in that story! Originally he had a bigger part, something like the "puss in boots" XD Maybe I'll still get there but it doesn't look good T_T

Next chapter will be really fluffy. I mean seriously fluffy. But also with a little Drama concerning Mytho I guess.


	5. Orpheus in der Unterwelt

_Once upon time, there was a nymph who loved a human. To be with him, she gave away her voice. She couldn't tell him anymore how she felt...As the man finally married it broke the the nymphs heart . Since that time she lured countless men on to their destruction to ease her own pain._

**Akt 5: Orpheus in der Unterwelt**

"You said you'd take care of that town fast, Jäger. And your mice haven't found any person for me to use.I'm disappointed", said the voice out of the mirror. It was frozen all over and the face in it could be barely seen. Only a pair of ice-cold eyes starred fiercefully.

Jäger had his back turned to the mirror. He was grunty about the situation.

"She was about to give in, but found out the truth after gained strength through it. She's harder to crack than any other one.

And that pest is now telling her about her past."

No mouse was near Jäger or the mirror. It was too cold. Jäger was breathing out the cold air.

"So, what should I do? It could take an eternity to make her come willingly. If it was for Tutu..."

"Whatever. Just bring her to me. You said that her dance is the most beautiful in the world. I won't accept failure!", said the Queen and left the mirror. As her presence disappeared, the ice on the mirror slowly melted. A mouse came out of his hiding place and looked if the place was safe.

Jäger was lost in had to bring Princess Tutu to the Queen, not just for her sake. The words of the spinner came back to him. Tutu's last sacrifice. And a smile folded on his face as he sat out for a place far far away.

* * *

"So..",said Fakir as he sat down. They were all in Ahirus room. Ella offered to tell them anything once they could find a place to talk. Now that everybody was in the room, all eyes were on Ella. The girl played with her hands nervously. Fakir tried to interrupt the silence and caught her attention.

Ella looked up. She met Ahirus gaze. She swallowed and then finally started talking.

"Well I'm not sure myself what happened. Like I said I still remember very little and it comes back to me very slowly. I do remember that I lived in a house with a lot of children. An orphanage I guess.. and I remember a lot of music... and singing. But anyway! I'm sure we used to play together, we were friends!"

"And how did she forget all about it then?",Fakir asked.

Ella looked at him, a little irritated. Fakir went on.

" If it's true what you're saying, why did she forget about it?"

Ella calmed down.

"This town was once spun into a tale wasn't it? Or rather the tale awoke to live..._The prince and the raven_, right?"

Ahiru eyes grew big.

"How did you...?"

" I was told by a spinner. The one who wrote stories about us."

One surprise after another. Everything came so fast and reached Ahiru so slow. She was glad that she was actually sitting. She closed her eyes and touched her forehead. She barely realized her surroundings.

" Are you sure? Another spinner?", Fakir asked finally.

Ella nodded.

" The spinner was different from the one here.. Drosselmeyer, right? She merged reality with her fantasy. If she saw someone who ate a lot, she turned him into a pig. Another person with a weird laughing pattern into a horse. And a little girl who was teased to be like a duck, was finally turned into a duck", she turned to Ahiru as she spoke her last words. So did Fakir.

Ahiru looked and said in a whisper." I'm not sure...I... think I remember something."

Fakir turned to her.

"A big house...white... and a river right next to it with a little bridge...and yes music, a piano..."

Ella smiled all over her face." Yes that's right! So we really knew each other. I wasn't sure if I made a mistake."

Fakir tried to shake off his confusion.

" Wait, so she's telling the truth? You're serious?"

Ahiru nodded. Her voice was weak, her head still dizzy and her hands were shaking. But she was smiling in excitement.

"Yes! I remember that we used to play together. But I'm not sure if it was an orphanage, more like a school..."

Ella thought for a moment. "Hmm, maybe your right. A music school maybe..."

Ahiru nodded. They moved closer together.

" And I remember that we once had a big fight about princes and knights or something!"

" Ah, you right, what was that all about again...?"

" It kind of makes me mad thinking about it."

"Oh and we were always dancing in the big music hall. There was even a big mirror!"

" And in winter we were always ice skating on the river! I remember that once..."

This went on for some time. Fakir cut himself out and watched the two girls chatting. He never saw Ahiru smile so brightly. She was really happy. Slowly he formed a picture in his head of a younger Ahiru dancing and singing on a green field, and behind a big white house.

It was a nice picture, although it made him a little sad. It also meant that there were stories about Ahiru he never knew or imagined. Well, at the moment, she could barely remember it herself.

Fakir raised himself. Ahiru stopped talking abruptly.

"What is it?"

" I'm going back home. It seems you got a lot to talk about. See you."

Ahiru wanted to say something but Fakir was already out the door. She mumbled something into her hand. Ella turned to her, with a serious look yet again.

" Say, do you like him?"

Ahiru looked at her and stuttered."W-what? Huh? I-I..."

Ella smiled brightly and took the other girl's hands.

" I can tell from your face that you do! I know how that's like. But you didn't tell him yet?"

" I-It's not that easy... I don't know-"

" If you don't ask you'll never find out!"

Ahiru tried to calm down. Her cheeks were still red.

"But I.."

"Ah right, the Princess Tutu thing...disappearing in a flash of light, right?"

"You know that, too?"

" Well yeah, I kind of know what happened, more or less."

Ahiru gave her a curious look.

" From that spinner?"

Ella nodded."She was able to see what happened here. I actually don't know that much about her."

Ahiru sat back and thought for a while. " Why didn't she turn you back then? She already told you so much."

"For fun, I guess? She wouldn't tell me anything about myself either. She only told me a little about that Queen..."

"Really?"

Ella held her knees close to her chest and laid her head down.

"Jäger is her loyal servant. She promised him anything he wants if he helped her. She only wants everything the world got to offer. And make everyone believe that she's the center of the world."

Ahiru was silent. Ella became really sad all of a sudden.

" I'm trying to get him out of that story and stop the Queen..."

"So he was written into it?"

Ella looked at the other girl. She smiled again.

" Yeah I think so!"

Ahiru wondered about her sudden change of mood. But Ella was already talking about something else.

"So! Now back to the important stuff! How you gonna tell him?"

Ahiru looked at her confused. She didn't know what she meant.

"The confession, Ahiru, the confession!"

Ahiru blushed.

" I can't tell him! I'd rather stay this way than disappearing! And I don't know how he feels..." After all the drama lately she didn't want to risk it one more time. Being close to him should be enough, he wouldn't break his promise.

Ella leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

"So you don't care if he falls in love with someone else?"

Ahiru looked at her irritated. Although there was a sudden ache in her heart. Just to think that he might like another girl...

True, when it was Mytho she knew that Rue was the better match for him. She accepted it, sadly, but she wanted him to be happy. But Fakir? That was rather different. Since they fought together for Mythos sake, they've been gotten closer, maybe even more than just friends. He always took care of Ahiru since she turned into a duck. Of course she wanted him to be happy. But could she accept it if he found happiness with someone else?

Ahiru was silent. She never experienced this kind of feelings before.

"So, what are you going to do?", asked Ella curiously. Ahiru didn't look at her.

" But what if I disappear...?"

"Well, then you need some other way to show him your feelings, right?"

_That's right,_thought Ahiru to herself. She once presented her feelings through her dance for Mytho! It might work again.

Ahiru was pumped and stood up so fast that she startled Ella.

"All right, I'm going to do it!"

"Um maybe you should wait until tomorrow? "

"Huh? Yeah you're right it's really late already..."

"Well, then it's time for me to go too. Got to go to class tomorrow."

"Right", said Ahiru as Ella stood up.

They told each other good night as Ella walked out of Ahirus room. The brunette leaned against the door and dropped her smile. She sighed and looked at her feet. After a short while she walked over to her room.

* * *

Rue still felt uneasy. Mytho had talked to many people about the raven's blood but there was no one who knew anything about it. Anybody who usually got infected by the raven's blood turned into a monster and had to be killed. Luckily Mytho was able to convince everybody, who he entrusted this information to, that Rue won't harm anyone.

But still, she felt watched by those eyes. Looking at her every move. Or maybe it was just her imagination? She couldn't tell.

Mytho was by her side more than before. But Rue couldn't overcome this terrible notion.

* * *

_She was at the lake again, dancing on the water. Not Tutu, but her as a girl. She danced alone for a while until her prince, no, her knight came. She smiled as he invited her to dance with him. The touch of his hand was so warm. He held her firmly yet gentle. She was so happy she thought that it didn't matter if she would die._

_He pulled her closer to her and embraced her. The girl could feel her cheeks turning red. She smiled and closed her eyes._

_Then the knight spoke :" How do feel about me?"_

_The girl opened her eyes fast and her smile disappeared. She freed herself a little from his grip and looked at him irritated." How I feel...?"_

"_Say that you love me", he whispered._

" _I- I can't."She shook her head._

_The knight looked disappointed, let go of the girl and turned around to leave. The girl tried to chase after him in shock but she couldn't catch up to him. Even her voice left her. She couldn't do anything. The last thing she saw was him walking over to another girl._

That's when Ahiru opened her eyes, falling out of her bed as usual. Just after a short moment she realized that it was just a dream. A nice dream, which turned into a nightmare. And it didn't seem that unrealistic to her. It already happened once.

But this was no moment to be sad! She had decided to tell him, any way it would work. She jumped up and screamed:" I'm not going to give up!" and soon after left for school.

She surprised Pique and Lilie by her new gained power but they didn't bother to ask. Ahiru was just like before, a little girl that smiled all over her face. She gave her all in the dance lessons, even though she sometimes distracted herself, thinking about Fakir, but snapped out of it fast.

While breaktime, Ella came over to her.

" So, what is your plan?"

" Huh?"

" How are you going to tell him without...actually...telling him", Ella asked unsure about her choice of words.

"I will...! ...uh...I..", stuttered Ahiru. She realized that she didn't really gave any thought about that. True, she knew she couldn't tell him directly but other then that she didn't think about what to do. She thought about dancing, but she wasn't Princess Tutu after all. There should be something else.

" You didn't think about it?"

" Ah well, you see. I was never supposed to confess so...I never thought about it at all."

Ella waited for her to speak again. Then Ahiru stood up fast and turned to her.

" He wasn't at school today either right?"

" Huh? N-No he wasn't-"

" Right! So I'll go look for him! See you later!", she yelled with a smile.

" What about afternoon classes! Ahiru!"

But she couldn't hear her anymore. Ella looked after her annoyed.

" She didn't change at all. Still without a care in the world...", she played with her wristband on her right arm. Her eyes became distant and only the school bells could bring her back from her slowly returning memories.

* * *

First Ahiru checked the library. After running threw a few corridors she saw a familiar head and stopped.

"Fakir!"

He turned around to face her.

"What are you doing here?", he said in a calm voice.

" I have something to tell you! It's important!"

Fakir looked at her curiously. Ahiru had decided that the best way to show him her feelings would be the pose for love. The easiest and fastest way to confess. Yeah, right...

The only thing she didn't consider was her nervousness. She was about to confess her love after all! Fakir stared at her, waiting for what was to come, but she couldn't move. Only slowly she moved her hands up. She closed her eyes hard. She couldn't see his reaction. He didn't say a word. But then.

" …. are you hurt or something?"

" Huh?"

Ahiru was that much stressed that she couldn't show the pose properly. She held her chest roughly and her whole body language told of her pain. But it wasn't a physical pain, that is.

She gave a short irritating laugh and moved her hands to the back of her body.

" Ahaha, it's nothing forget about it! Bye!"

She left in a blink of an eye, and Fakir just scratched his head wondering but smiled lightly before turning back to his book.

After Ahiru was out of the library she leaned against a tree. She didn't know she would be so stiff in front of him. Normally she could talk to him, even argue with him. So what happened? Even though love was the cause, that turned her into Princess Tutu in the first place she never gave to much thought to that little word.

It didn't work. Her nightmare came back to her, and the knight's words, too. She straightened her back and tried to think of something else.

" People say The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Maybe if I cook something nice for him..."

Ahiru ran over to the school kitchen to prepare something. She decided on a cake but didn't feel very comfortable to use eggs, so she left them out. She might have put salt in it instead of sugar and maybe to much baking soda. She couldn't really recall later if she even put milk into it but guessed that there should be enough milk in the chocolate.

The result however was clear. Disaster. Not only the kitchen was in a mess, but the cake looked horrible. Out of curiosity and confidence she still tried the cake. She couldn't eve take a bite because it was so hard and the taste couldn't be defined any other way than disgusting.

So after she cleaned up after her mess and threw away the cake, she pondered again about what she should do.

Next thing she could think of was writing a love letter. Fakir did receive one from her once, though it was not written by her. What if he thought it was a joke?

" I won't know if i don't try!"

So she sad down to write about her feelings. And realized that she had no idea how to put her feelings into words. She also didn't know if she could write a simple " I love you" and get around the curse this way. She wasn't a writer, but Fakir was. So she scribbled and crossed words for approximately an hour before she gave up.

She still refused to give up and tried another thing right after another.

* * *

" You seem restless ", said Mytho finally. Rue was sitting in the castle's garden. Even in the coldest winter the garden seemed to be a beautiful place. Rue didn't smile.

"Isn't it obvious? There is nothing here that could help me. I still think that I should leave this place..."

The prince looked at her discouraged. He knew that there weren't many people and places they could ask about the raven blood. Nobody worried about studying it in any way. There was nothing he could say to her for encouragement.

He couldn't remember when she last smiled. He feared that he wouldn't be able to keep her from leaving any longer.

A strong wind arose. The trees moved and a few snowflakes fell from the sky. Mytho moved closer to his princess. He reached a hand out to her, but she didn't even turn to him.

"It's cold. You should go back inside.", he said after a while.

Rue sighed and nestled down in her warm coat.

" How long is it going to take to make you realize that I don't belong here...", she whispered.

Mytho was stunned by her words. She looked at him fiercely. But before he could give her an answer the wind arose again and a boy appeared behind Mytho with a evil smile on his lips.

" How nice to meet again, prince. Or maybe it's our first encounter?"

Rues eyes grew big in surprise and Mytho turned around fast to face the person.

"...Who are you?"

The boy took a bow as he said:" Just a mere hunter, your highness. They call me Jäger. And today you happen to be my prey."

Mytho tried to reach out for his sword and Rue could already hear the knight's footsteps but it was too late. Jäger pierced the prince with a dagger, right through his heart. Mytho breathed in from the shock. He couldn't move. He could only feel the chill from the knife. Rue gave a little painful cry. Even the soldiers that had now arrived couldn't move.

But as Jäger pulled the blade out of the prince's body, the knights remembered their duty and attacked the boy. However, the boy disappeared into nothingness before they could reach him. Mytho fell on one knew as he held his chest. His eyes were still wide open from the shock. Rue stood up and kneel next him. One knight came closer to look for his well-being.

" Prince, is everything all right? Somebody get a doctor right now!"

Rue took his face into her hands and looked at him worried. Her eyes glittered, she was about to cry.

"Mytho are you alright? Your heart, he pierced your heart! "

She moved away his hands from his chest to get a better look. His clothes were torn but his body wasn't even scratched. There was absolutely nothing. Rue touched his chest.

" But...how? I could see him piercing you how could this..."

Rues eyes grew wide. She looked straight in the princes eyes.

"Is it your heart...?", she whispered in disbelief. Mytho slowly calmed down.

" Don't worry I'm alright. But he did take a piece of my heart..."

He tried to stand but his legs were still shaking. Rue supported him and helped him up. She looked at him concerned, but he only smiled for her.

" I guess this is no good time for you to leave..."

Rue looked at him surprised and then looked away.

"Stop it, it's not the time to say something like that."

The prince was moved into the castle as the doctor came running through the halls to him.

* * *

Ahiru sighed. It almost nighttime. She was sitting on the gangplank at the lake , slowly moving her feet almost touching the waters surface.

Throughout the day she had thought of various things to confess to Fakir, hopelessly. She thought about roses but was almost immediately reminded of Femio and couldn't bring herself to give them to Fakir. Then she tried to do something with music ( since she grew up in a musical house as she knew now) but failed terribly. Autor kicked her out of the music room after a few notes on the piano. She thought about maybe knitting a scarf for him, but she didn't know anything about knitting and nobody was around to teach her.

Every single idea was a disaster and she felt like time was running out. That dream really got to her. She couldn't shake of the feeling that it would come true very soon. She laid down on the wood and watched as some stars appeared on the dark night-sky. She returned to the lake because she thought that this was a better place to think. It was a special place for her and Fakir after all. Or maybe only for her?

She embraced herself and closed her eyes.

" I wished this would be easier.", she mumbled into her pullover.

"I could bring your happiness my dear", said a mysterious voice. Ahiru opened her eyes and looked to her right and left. Then she straightened her back to look at the lake. There was nothing. The voice chuckled and the waters surface moved. In the middle rose a feminine figure as the water froze over fast. Ahiru stood up and took a step back.

The figure reached out for Ahiru. Although she was made of ice she had no problem moving.

" Come to me, and I will grant you happiness", she said with a sweet voice. Ahiru had never heard such a smooth voice before. She almost wanted to reach for her hand but then realized something.

" You're... You're that queen..."

The figure let her hand down.

" Well yes. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. I just want to help."

But Ahiru thought otherwise. She turned into Princess Tutu and came closer to the figure of ice. She didn't dare to touch the surface of the lake.

The Queen looked at her curiously.

" So this is Princess Tutu. My, I have to say that you really look beautiful. But would you please dance for me?"

Princess Tutu wanted to say something but she was interrupted. By the melody of a violin.

"This is not your place Pamina. Leave!"

Both of them turned around to the person with the violin, standing near the lake. It was the girl Princess Tutu saw with Freya. The melody of the violin became louder. It seemed to hurt the Queen. She grunted. Nothing of the smooth voice was left.

" Don't you think that this is over!", she spit and the water melted . It fell down with a splash and there was no sign of ice anymore. Princess Tutu turned to the girl, holding her hands close to her chest.

" So we meet again."

The girls violin had disappeared. She now looked confused at the Princess but then smiled again.

" Didn't you realize it yet?" she said as she turned back into a normal girl.

Princess Tutu looked at her surprised."Ella …?"

* * *

Ahiru had also turned back into a normal girl. She walked next to Ella, on their way back to the town.

" The name is Princess Aria. As I remembered that I am actually human, I was able to transform. But I think it's a little bit different from Princess Tutu. When I change, it only enforces my abilities."

Ahiru nodded.

" I see, so your good with music and stuff. I don't seem to have that kind of talent. Sigh. Ah, but what exactly makes you change?"

Ella raised her right hand and showed Ahiru her flower wristband.

" This here. It's a memento from the past. When I got this back, I started to remember the past. But I guess that the spinner had also something to do with it."

" It's beautiful...", said Ahiru.

" It was given to me as a present..."

" Really? From who?"

Ella gave her a strange look she couldn't really read. Ella sighed and said: " Not telling."

Ahiru wanted to say something but Ella cut her off.

" Ah, look who's coming!"

Ahiru looked in front of her. Fakir came walking down the path through the woods. Ahiru blushed lightly as she thought that he might have been looking for her.

"Well, I guess I leave you alone. I don't want to stand between you two." Before Ahiru could explain that she hadn't told Fakir yet, Ella already ran down the road, passed Fakir, and into the woods.

Fakir looked after her curiously but didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to Ahiru, who had stopped her movement when she saw Fakir.

" Hey I was looking for you. Are you all right?"

" Huh?Y- Yeah, why do you ask?"

Fakir shrugged.

" You seemed to act more strangely than normal."

Ahiru looked away and gave a little laugh. Fakir turned around.

" Come on, it's getting late."

Ahiru nodded and ran to his side. They walked for a while without saying a word.

"...You're quiet. That's not like you."

Ahiru gave him a quick glance but then looked at her feet.

" I just... have a lot on my mind."

" You mean Jäger? He hasn't appeared for while now. But don't worry, I'm going to do something about this whole story. It's my fault after all."

Ahiru shook her head.

" No that's not it. I mean, of course I'm concerned about Jäger and the Queen but that's not what I meant."

"Then what is?"

"... it never felt so hard to be Princess Tutu when it was for Mythos sake..."

"What?", Fakir gave her a strange look." Is something wrong?"

Ahiru stopped. So did Fakir, not averting his eyes from her.

" I just don't know what to do anymore."

"...Ahiru?"

" I mean, I really never thought about it! There was no reason to. But when it comes down to it I don't know what to do."

Fakir listened to her confused.

" And it doesn't make it any better that I'm scared to disappear! It's so different from when it was with Mytho. As long as I could help him everything was alright. And I could accept that he picked Rue instead of me."

Ahirus voice became sadder. She was about to cry.

" But this time it's so much different! I really feel like my heart is about to burst just thinking about it!"

Fakir slowly realized and understood her words.

" You're..."

" I'm scared of loosing you! I tried to make you understand any other way but I messed it up every time! Everything went wrong! I don't know what I would do if you left me behind all of a sudden."

"We talked about this already, didn't we?I won't-"

" It's not the same!",shouted Ahiru, crying.

" I'm also just realizing it slowly. I can't compare this feelings to those I had for Mytho. My feelings for you are so much bigger, and I don't even know when it even started! And it hurts so much when I think that you might forget about me. I don't want that. I want you to be happy, but with me!

… I'm sounding so selfish saying this. I guess I know now how Princess Tutu must have felt... I don't care if I might disappear...Fakir, I lov-"

She couldn't finish her sentence. Rough but warm lips were pressed on hers. Time stood still. Her teary eyes were wide open in surprise. Then their lips parted again and Fakir gave her a concerned look.

" You're not supposed to say that. Idiot."

Ahiru only understood slowly what happened. She didn't say anything. She gazed at him like in trance. She closed her eyes and stretched out her lips to him, ready to be kissed again. Fakir blinked, but then leaned down to her again.

This moment lasted for a small eternity.

* * *

" So you really asked for love advice?", Ahiru laughed. Fakir blushed.

" Shut up. I needed to do something. I did it without thinking. That stupid cat was just the first thing that came to my mind."

Ahiru chuckled. They were slowly walking back to the town. The walls could already be seen in the distance. They walked hand in hand and had been talking for a while now. Both of them felt more relaxed than before and relieved now that they could talk about everything they had kept in their heart.

" Fakir? "

"Hmm?"

Fakir turned to face her.

"You see... I don't know what will happen if I say it... don't worry I won't, but... could you maybe say it to me...please?"

Fakir first didn't know what she meant, but as he realized it, he blushed and looked the other way. Ahiru gave him a serious look. She really wanted to at least hear it from him. At least once. Just this one time.

She squeezed his hand. But there seemed to be no reaction from him at all.

She looked disappointed at her feet. But all of a sudden she heard him mumbling, but still clear.

" I... love you"

Ahiru looked at him but he didn't turn around. Her face turned red, just like a tomato. If only she could have seen that his face didn't look any different.

They could hear their hearts beating loud in their ears. Good thing nobody could see them at that moment.

" Come on.", said Fakir and pulled her behind her. She stumbled but then caught up to him. She smiled. As she looked at Fakir she thought she glimpsed also a smile on his face.

* * *

Not that much of a cliffhanger I guess. XD

I think this chapter came out way cheesier then it was in my head.

My Beta-reader didn't think so, but i guess i really rushed this chapter and he had to correct a lot. He pointed out some mistakes in this one but they should be all corrected now.

Title is in english Orpheus in the Underworld, an Operette by Offenbach. I guess most of you are familiar with the Can-Can from the Moulin rouge? The "Galop" from the Operette is the most associated piece with that dance. And CanCan is most likely derived from the french word canard(duck) so i thought it fits perfectly for this chapter XD I wish this chapter was funnier though

The tale is a mix of the loreley and the little mermaid. Loreley was a nymph who was lying on a rock and while she enchanted the sailors with her singing, they crashed against the rock and died :)

This chapter came out long, although i have the feeling that it's actually short...


	6. Der Feuervogel

_Once upon a time there was firebird. One day, the bird was caught by a prince. To save it's own life it begged the prince to let him free. For it could aid him and reveal secrets he wasn't aware of._

**Akt 6: Der Feuervogel**

" So...", Ella looked curiously at Ahiru. The girl hadn't spoken yet and the silence felt disturbing for Ella. They were on the way back from school. Ahiru had been daydreaming all day. She hardly spoke a word to Ella.

But Ahiru didn't react and kept on gazing into the distance with a dumb smile on her face. Ella grunted.

"Hey!", she yelled but it didn't work either. Ella lost her temper and pinched the daydreamer in the arm.

"Owowowow...that hurts!"

She was finally back in the present.

"I'm trying to talk to you here! You don't have any time to dream right now!"

Ahiru rubbed her arm.

"I know ..."

"Do you remember anything?"

Ahiru thought for a moment before she started to speak.

" Well, just vaguely... I do remember the music school more clearly now, but also that we practiced Ballet in private. Some more faces..."

"Really? Like who?", said Ella a little bit louder than she intended. She gave Ahiru an intense look.

Ahiru didn't see it, though. She was still looking into the sky.

"A boy and also-"

"A boy? Do you remember anything about him?"

Ahiru was surprised and turned around to Ella. The brunette blushed and looked the other way.

" Should I know him that much?"

"It's okay if you don't.", said Ella fast. "Anything else you remember?"

Ahiru looked at her for while and wondered about her reaction. Was she always that weird? But she realized that she didn't want to talk about it. So she moved to another topic. A smile appeared on Ahirus face,reminiscing.

" I remember your singing."

Ella's eyes grew big.

" You were a really great singer, I remember that many people admired you for your voice. It was far better than your dancing. But I haven't heard you sing since we met."

Ahiru gave her a curious look. Ella didn't turn.

"...I don't sing anymore. I've given up on music."

Ahiru was shocked.

"What? Why?"

"Because I want to be a ballerina."

Ahiru stopped, a little confused.

" Couldn't you do both? I understand if you have fun in dancing but-"

" It's not about fun!" Ellas voice became sharp. She also had stopped, just two steps ahead of Ahiru. She didn't turn around.

" You don't need to understand it. But it's really important to me." She looked up to the sky. "My singing won't let me reach out for the stars."

Ahiru tilted her head.

"...but Ballet will?"

"I hope so.", Ella muttered. After a moment, she turned around to Ahiru with a weary smile.

" You haven't really told me about yesterday. What did actually happen?"

Yesterday. Fakir. The kiss. Three sweet words. And Ahiru was back in her day dreaming routine.

Ella sighed. She moved closer to the other girl and pinched both of her cheeks with a annoyed look.

"Would you please stay focused when I'm talking to you!"

"Owowowowo", Ahiru whined. " That hurts!"

"... What are you doing?"

The girls turned around to face Fakir.

"M-morning", said Ahiru after Ella let go of her and touched her red-pinched cheeks.

Ella looked from one to the other. She finally turned to Fakir.

" So maybe you could tell me what happened yesterday?"

Fakir looked at her, blushed lightly and grunted while he turned his face away.

" It has got nothing to do with you."

" Is that so …?", Ella said with a meaningful look. But no one answered.

"I also would be interested in that."

They all turned around. A boy with a vicious smile.

" ….Jäger...", said Ella straightening her back, giving him a concerned look.

Fakir placed himself protectivly in front of Ahiru. This was the first time he met him. Ahiru didn't say a word. She got goose bumps as she saw him.

" So you're that Jäger? What do you want!", Fakir said.

" Oh so you already know me? Good, so I don't need to introduce myself again."

"Why are you here?", spit Fakir. He got furious just looking at his figure. Ella didn't say a word.

Jäger pulled something out of his pocket and looked now at Ahiru.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I was looking for a present for you..."

As Jäger opened his hand he spoke a few words, the others couldn't hear. The object, a red gem, flew up and straight to Ahiru. Fakir tried to protect her but it was too late. The little red gem melted with Ahirus Pendant and began glowing. An impulse ran through Ahirus body and everything turned dark before her eyes.

Fakir caught her before she met the ground. He kneel down and tried to speak to her.

" Hey Ahiru! What's wrong? Wake up! Ahiru!"

Ella just looked at her childhood friend in disbelief and then turned to Jäger.

" What did you do? Why did you hurt her? I thought you-...I thought you loved her!"

Jäger chuckled.

" I didn't do anything to harm her. It's just that I tried to wake up the sleeping beauty. You should give her to me now."

When Fakir heard these words he turned around to face Jäger.

" And why do you think we should do that?"

" Because there's nothing you can do about her now anyway. She won't wake up."

Ella sat besides Ahiru as Fakir rose and fully turned to the boy. He had the eyes of a spinner.

" You better leave."

" Oh really. You want to fight me?"

" You think you can win against my powers?"

The atmosphere changed, the wind blew stronger. Jäger made a step back but still smiling.

" Hmm, that's okay. It's not like I'm in a hurry. Not anymore. Sooner or later she will come to me anyway." And then he disappeared.

Fakir cooled down, clenching his fists. He closed his eyes, breathed in and opened them again. They were the normal green eyes again. He turned to Ella who held Ahiru in her arms.

" Ahiru! Hey... Fakir! I think she's waking up!"

Fakir came closer to her face. "Ahiru can you hear me?"

The girl slowly opened her eyes looking at her surrounding. When she saw Fakir and Ella her eyes grew big in surprise and she backed of a little, almost scarred. She looked at herself in disbelief and concern.

The other two wondered about that. Fakir came a little closer. " Ahiru are you alright? Are you hurt?"

She didn't react.

"Ahiru!"

She stopped and looked at the face before her. Her voice was shaking and in her eyes one could see the shock.

"I-I'm not... I'm not Ahiru."

* * *

"Very interesting indeed...", Autor eyed the person in front of him.

Ella looked through the books of Autors collection and sighed.

" Not really. They just seemed to have changed positions. It's not like Ahiru disappeared.", she tried to calm herself with these words rather than explaining it to Autor.

Fakir was sitting at the desk, looking through various books on Drosselmeyer.

When they found out that there was Princess Tutu instead of Ahiru they thought to see first if it might have anything to do with Drosselmeyer or the spinners. Nothing like this happened in the story of "the prince and the raven". Autors place was the obvious choice.

Autor moved his glasses, turning to Fakir.

"This won't do. Why do you want to make it so complicated?"

" Shut up.", muttered Fakir turning the next page of the book.

Autor sighed.

" First you make me look through your stories because you got worried you messed up with that girl somewhere and now this."

"I thought you did it out of free will."

" Of course. Because I expected something more than there actually was."

Fakir gave him a quick glare before turning back to his book.

Autor turned around to leave.

" I'll go look at the library and the bookshop. It's better if we use more books than only these." He just didn't want to admit that he knew the books almost by heart, and couldn't think of anything useful in them.

Ella turned around.

" Ah, I guess I'll go with you, if that's alright?"

Autor glared at her displeased but shrugged.

" Why not."

They left.

Fakir and Tutu stayed back. They didn't say a word. The girl sat down on the other site of the room. Fakir looked through various books and sighed every now and then in annoyance. Tutu moved nervously.

" You sure I shouldn't help you?"

" Don't worry about it", he said while he took the next book out of the shelve. Tutu watched him.

"You really don't need to worry. It's really just like Ella said. Ahiru is ...asleep right now. Just like I was before. She didn't disappear."

" Well, that's at least something. I don't get why this even happened..."

"The prince's heart. A part of me was in his heart. It happened when I confessed..."

She touched the Pendant. Fakir looked at her curious.

"What do you mean?"

The girl smiled mildly. It was so weird. Even though this was Ahirus normal human form, it was still Tutu's mind. Nothing showed that she was supposed to be the clumsy little girl he knew. Nothing at all. But it was still her face.

" My role in the story was to love and help everyone who needed me. My heart wasn't meant to belong to only one person but... I fell in love with the prince. And as I confessed I broke my oath to be in everyone's heart and became a part of the prince's. That's why Ahiru could transform into me with the heart shard."

"I see." Fakir scratched his cheek. It was kind of weird to see her like that.

" But why could she transform without a heart shard? That doesn't make sense."

" We spent so much time together that a part of me became a part of her, just like she became a part of me. It's just now that my heart is complete ...Jäger was able to awaken me."

Fakir grunted acknowledging and turned to his book again. Tutu averted her eyes. Although he wasn't looking at her she felt really uncomfortable.

"...I'm sorry."

" It's not your fault, don't worry about it." Fakir turned the next page.

" No, that's not what I meant." Tutu looked to the ground. Fakir turned towards her, curious about her words. He waited until she spoke again.

" When Ahiru first saw the prince, she wanted to help him. Maybe she liked him."

Fakir frowned and wanted to focus on the book again. He didn't want to hear that now. Tutu continued.

"When she transformed she used my powers to help him, while I was in a deep slumber. But it's not just that. She also took my personality and it merged with her own."

"So?", asked Fakir clearly annoyed. Tutu grabbed the Pendant.

" That's why... my feelings... were also adopted by her."

Fakir stopped his movement. Tutu looked for another reaction but then decided to speak again.

"She might not have really been in love with the prince. It were just my feelings that were expressed through her."

Fakir turned around fast, a frown on his face.

"... Why are you apologizing to me then? You should apologize to her, for messing up her whole life."

Tutu flinched a little at his sharp voice.

"Because, as I was asleep, I could still see and feel everything through her. It was just like a dream. I know that, if it weren't for my feelings, Ahiru might had fallen for you sooner..."

Fakir sighed in annoyance but didn't say anything.

"...I don't even know how to tell her I'm sorry. It's not like we could see each other face to face. But maybe she can also hear our conversation."

" Whatever." Fakir turned to his books again. Tutu gave him a weary look.

" If you're mad than say so."

"I'm not!"

Tutu shook her head.

" Of course you are."

They didn't say anything for a while. Tutu couldn't find the courage to speak again. The pendant seemed to have gotten colder, now that it was complete. Had the Queens magic gotten stronger again?

"...Why?", Fakir broke the silence in a soft voice. Tutu looked up, his head was still turned away from her.

" Why do you think that anything would have changed if it weren't for your feelings?"

"... It's not so hard to believe when you think about it. She was able to go on because you were there. She didn't confess because you told her she had to bring back all of the prince's heart shards. You were the one to free her from Drosselmeyer's realm. And also...she was alright to give up in being human, because you said that you would never leave her side.

Maybe she didn't realize it herself, but she really liked you for a long time. I could feel that."

Tutu blushed lightly and smiled.

" I think, that right now, it's that her feelings changed me".

Fakir didn't know how to feel about it. Should he be mad?Furious? Or maybe happy?

He just shook of the feeling and seemed to not have realized Tutus little confession of some sorts and tried to focus again.

He couldn't think of anything to say. Tutu waited for him to say anything, but he didn't. She leaned back and let the silence fill the room.

* * *

"Where to start...", wondered Autor. He had at least read most of the books once in the bookshop but right now he didn't know what to actually look for. Ella, on the other hand, grabbed one of the books off the shelf and started to turn the pages.

"...So what should we look for anyway?"

"I'm not sure. Something that give us some clue on Jäger maybe, or the spinners. Though I already know all about the spinners that is written in the books."

" Hmm. I just hope this is alright..."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, nothing, absolutely nothing!", Ella could feel his gaze on her. She moved uncomfortably from one leg to the other.

" You know more than you actually admit, don't you? "

Ella didn't say anything. Autor shrugged.

" Well as long as it doesn't help us in this situation you can keep it for yourself. Ahiru might remember it soon anyway."

Ella frowned. She tried to change the subject.

"Say, why doesn't Fakir just write a story about Ahiru? Wouldn't it be the easiest way?"

Autor sighed as he grabbed the first book out of the dusty shelves.

" He won't do it."

" Huh? Why not?"

" Because he still feels responsible for turning back Ahiru."

Ella blinked irritated.

" I don't understand..."

" Me neither. But he's just scared that he might mess up and hurt her in the end."

Ella lowered the book she held.

" He really cares about her, right? And so she does about him.."

Autor nodded.

Ella sighed. She did the right thing, didn't she? It's not like she was only thinking about herself...

She lost herself in her memories. Anger, happiness, tears … everything the spinner told her..

"...Oh!", shouted Ella in a loud voice.

" Would you please stop!", said autor in a sharp voice, his usual tone.

Ella put a hand to her mouth and blushed. Then she lowered her hand to speak clearly.

" I know what we can do! This will be the best way!"

* * *

Autor listened to her curiously.

"... you really think this is going to work?", asked Fakir.

Ella nodded." The Queen and Jäger are her characters after all."

" That's not what I meant. Do you really think that she will help us?"

Ella blinked and frowned in thoughts. Autor sighed.

"We don't really know anything about that spinner. But this might be worth a try."

Fakir glared at him." You're just thinking about yourself! You just want to know more about the spinners!"

Autor shrugged." So sue me. It's the best option right now anyway. Who knows, she might be cooperative."

Tutu had listened and finally spoke." We should try it. I want to meet her myself." She turned to the young writer, holding her hands close to her chest, almost like praying." Please, Fakir. "

Fakir looked at Tutus begging face. No, it was _her_ face._ Damn it._

He closed his eyes and scratched his head, but he couldn't shake of this feeling.

"All right", he finally spoke. " I'll try to write a story so we can find her." He looked at Ella.

" Is there anything you can tell me about that spinner? It might help.."

Ella thought for a moment.

" Not that much... She seemed to know Drosselmeyer quite well and she loves to tell stories, some of her own but also from others. She's … rather moody. I think she let me remember because she was bored of her stories. She called herself Miss Sand."

"...Do you know where she is? Or how the place looks like?"

Ella shook her head."It's kind of blurry. I only remember her sitting in a... rocking chair."

Fakir breathed out, clearly annoyed. He turned to leave Autors place.

" The best will be when we go to the oak tree."

Autor chuckled a little and walked behind Fakir. Tutu took the irritated Ella by the hand and told her about the tree.

* * *

"So you say that it won't take long any more?", the Queen asked. Jäger couldn't tell her figure in the mirror. The cold air burned in his throat.

"Yes."

The Queen made a acknowledging sound. " Very good, Jäger. She seems to be really important to you."

Although he didn't see it, Jäger could feel her sharp look. A cold hand reached out of the mirror. The Queen spoke in a soft voice.

"Do never forget who's the most important. "

Jäger smiled and put his head into her palm. It was freezing.

" I won't."

As the Queen disappeared, so did Jägers smile. He took one of the freezing mice from the floor and warmed it in his hands.

No he couldn't forget. There was always just that one person for him. From the day he was created. And she was the one who formed his whole world. Or at least she was supposed to do so...

* * *

Fakir already sat for a while, talking to the oak tree. Autor leaned against the wall and watched, with a little jealousy in his eyes, but more excitement about what was about to happen. Ella and Tutu stood farther away to talk in private.

Ella nodded." I see ...so that's why. The tree might even know something about her."

Tutu nodded with a mild smile. Her eyes were weary. " Hopefully this will work..."

Ella looked at the familiar face in concern.

" ...It's weird to look at you like that, you're...just too calm."

Tutu didn't take off her gaze from Fakir. " I guess so. Ahiru... is really different from me isn't she."

Ella wondered and spoke in a low voice. " You almost sound jealous..."

"...maybe I am, a little bit."

She looked at her feet, closing her eyes a little. " She found happiness in love. It's something I could never dream of."

She raised her head again, now looking at Ella.

" And what about you?"

" Huh?"

" You already knew before that Ahiru is the person you're looking for, and you knew she could turn into me. Why did you hesitate?"

Ella turned away and bit her lip. _Because I didn't know if I really want her to come back_, she thought. But she didn't say anything. And Tutu understood the silence.

" You don't need to talk about it, it's not really concerning me. But... shouldn't you tell Ahiru?"

Ella thought for a moment. What should she do right now?

" I can't..."

"Why not?"

" Because she might remember when I tell her. And I still don't know how she feels about it for certain."

Tutu blinked. What could she mean?

She was interrupted by an appearing door, decorated in beautiful flowers and feathers.

Fakir raised himself.

" So I guess that's our way", said Autor and stepped next to Fakir, adjusting his glasses while looking at the door with curious eyes. Fakir turned to Ella and Tutu. His face was serious, with the eyes of a spinner.

" Let's go."

* * *

I should have posted this earlier but I was just to busy with christmas XD I hope everybody had some great days :)

Name of this chapter is the firebird, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky. It's one of the last chapters I named XD

With this, we reached the middle of the story. And I'm excited and scared of writing the next chapter _ I just don't know if I can do it.

Don't know what to say about the chapter. The thing with the heart shard and Tutu is kind of canon in my head. For me, it's the only possible way. But you are free to disagree with me.

Lol I think it's funny that after the last chapter 7 more people subscribed to this story XD I still don't think my writing is any good

Happy holidays!^^


	7. Petruschka

_Once upon a time, there was a puppet which developed human feelings. It could feel love, hate, joy and sadness. But a puppet is not supposed to think for itself. Only the puppeteer decides about the emotions of the puppet._

**Akt 7**

**Petruschka**

" Oh there are some guest?", a voice said. Only the creaking of the rocking chair could be heard. Then a giggle of an old woman.

Ella and Tutu turned into their alter egos, as they entered the place. Tutu took a look around. How strange, it looked a lot like Drosselmeyer's realm. But it still felt different. Some gear wheels turned, but only the smaller ones. The ballerina fixed her eyes on a big gear wheel above them.

Autor was also very interested in the surroundings. It wasn't quite how he imagined it to be, but it was still worth it.

" Fascinating...", he mumbled under his breath.

Princess Aria felt clearly uncomfortable as she clenched her wrist with the memento.

Fakir didn't care about anything. Only for one thing.

" Come on out! We need to talk!", he screamed into the air.

Again, a sweet laugh.

A figure jumped down from the upper gears, gliding slowly down, thanks to her umbrella. She landed in perfect position on the ground, finally showing her face. The rings in her eyes were visible, a wide grin on her face. A spinner.

She bowed quite nicely before her guests.

"Welcome! It's been a while since somebody visited me! And even one of my kind! How nice! You can call me Miss Sand."

Autor grunted annoyed.

" You should know why we're here.", said Fakir in a dangerous tone.

Miss Sand giggled and turned around playfully, turning the umbrella in a anti-clock wise direction.

" Well I do know who you are but you should know that I'm different from Drosselmeyer. I have many stories to look at, all the time. But your story turned out to be quite boring lately so I haven't been following." She yawned. Fakir clenched his fists and was about to snap.

The spinner turned around again, acting like a little girl.

"So what is it? "

Fakir pointed at Tutu making a grimace.

"Turn her back! Right now!"

Sand gave Tutu a curious look. Then she opened her mouth in surprise. She stepped closer to her.

" Oh you two changed places? How interesting! I've never thought about that". She nodded, as if she agreed with herself. She turned to the others. " How do you intend to turn her back?"

_Is she serious? _

Fakir yelled as Tutu blinked in confusion: " You! You're the first one who changed her anyway and Jäger is your character! Shouldn't you be able to do something? "

Sand looked at the boy. " What makes you think that I could do anything? You need to go to Drosselmeyer for that! It's concerning his characters, too."

Fakir scratched his head:" Yes but Jäger was the one who chanted the magic!"

" So I'm telling you to go to Drosselmeyer! Didn't you listen?"

Everybody looked at her in disbelief.

Autor was the one to ask:" So you're saying that Jäger is not a character you brought to life?"

" Well, that's not really correct. You see..."

Sand made a few steps before she spoke again.

" Drosselmeyer was the first to write about him. He created the boy. I just brought him to life."

Aria frowned. " So you stole the character?"

" Oh nononono. I wouldn't call it stealing. I just picked him up after he was thrown away by his creator. "

Tutu gasped. " He... Was he a character in _The prince and the raven_?"

Sand watched her silent surprise. " He was! Why, yes!"

Tutu looked at the floor. She was shaking.

" _You..know me, right? That I'm the princess of the story..."_

_Jäger stopped and listened._

" _Say, why were you trying to find me?..You even called me your princess..."_

"But- why don't I remember him at all?", asked Tutu as she touched her head.

" Because Drosselmeyer scratched his character pretty soon in the development of his story. He didn't like him all that much."

"... do you know what his original role in the story was?" asked Aria in a calm voice.

" He was supposed to cast a spell on Princess Tutu to bind her to only him."

" My oath..."

Sand nodded. " But Drosselmeyer threw him out of the story and also shortened Tutus appearance." She turned around and tiptoed across the room. " So you see now, that I can't do anything for you here?"

She stopped walking and grinned.

" But I want to know how the story continues, this might be fun!"

" What?", Fakir spit. She was no different from Drosselmeyer.

Sand nodded to herself.

" Hmm, I might be able to help you after all!"

Everybody looked at her surprised. They watched as she got a little bell out of her pocket and rang it.

A lomg case clock appeared after a while, out of nowhere, an owl made of wood on top. Fakirs and Tutus eyes grew big as they recognized the item.

As the door opened, Aria and Autor also looked amazed.

A grumpy spinner stepped out of the door.

" What are you calling me for?"

It was Drosselmeyer. His frown disappeared as he looked at the surrounding people and a wide grin appeared on his lips.

" So we see each other again? Oh and there is one unknown face...". Now he frowned again.

" What's that supposed to mean?", he pointed at Aria, looking at the spinner woman. " Was that you, Sand?"

Aria was confused. What was wrong?

" Yes, do you like design?", she said dreamy.

" Like it? You stole the idea from me!"

Tutu and Aria blinked in confusion and looked at each other.

" I did not!", protested Sand. " She's different from Tutu!"

" Say what? Just look at them! They could be twins or at least sisters!"

" Oh hogwash! They do not!"

" You were always jealous of my stories weren't you?"

" Oh is that why you stole one of_ my_ characters?"

" I did not!"

" The Duck was mine!"

" Oh really? I didn't know!"

" So! We're even!"

" Nononono. I didn't know the Duck was yours but you clearly stole the idea of Princess Tutu from me!"

The others looked at the fighting elders in disbelief.

" This is nonsense..." mumbled Aria.

Fakir watched the two as something pulled on his leg. He looked down. To his surprise he saw another familiar face.

" Uzura!"

The little puppet smiled.

" It's Fakir-zura! How are you zura? And Ahiru is here too zura! And the strange person, too zura!"

He kneel down to the puppet girl, the voices of the spinners still ringing in his ears. He pet Uzura's head.

" So you were with Drosselmeyer huh? We're... okay, but that's not Ahiru."

Uzura looked at Tutu.

" Not Ahiru zura?"

Tutu shook her head." I'm sorry it's only Tutu right now."

" Ooooooh. So no tail zura?". Uzura came closer to the princess. Aria looked at the girl curiously.

Uzura frowned.

" So where's Ahiru zura?"

" She's asleep. She switched places with me. She's in the pendant. We're trying to wake her up." Tutu touched the pendant as she spoke.

Uzura grumbled. She took out her Drumsticks and started to hit on her drum, as loud as she could.

"WAKE UP AHIRU-ZURA!"

Everybody jumped a little at the sudden drumming except for the spinners. Autor frowned and swore under his breath while Ella showed surprise at the little puppet.

" Uzura stop that, it won't help!"

" WAKE UP ZURA!"

Tutu looked at the puppet girl, at first surprised and irritated, but then sadly. As she touched Uzuruas little hands, the drums stopped.

" I'm sorry. We're here because we think that one of spinners could help us. She was put to sleep by some kind of magic and it awakened me."

" You're awoke zura? Why were you sleeping zura?"

Tutu gave her a weary smile.

" Enough of this!"

Everbody turned around to Drosselmeyer who had spoken. Miss Sand was pouting with crossed arms.

" Just tell me what's going on! I'm in a bad mood. Everything is just boring!"

Fakir was the first to speak.

" Ahiru and Tutu. They kind of switched places. Turn them back!"

Drosselmeyer eyed Tutu. A grin appeared on his face.

" Oh really? Interesting, Interesting..."

" Just turn her back the way she was! It was one of your characters who did this after all!"

" Huh? Who?"

" Jäger!"

Drosselmeyer blinked, frowned and then turned to Sand again.

" Did you have something to do with this?", he said in a dangerous voice.

" Oh come on, you practically threw him away and I found him! Finders keepers!"

" You have no shame, Sand!"

_But he does?, _thought Fakir to himself.

" Just tell us what we're supposed to do now!", spit Fakir.

Drosselmeyer turned back to the young spinner.

"I'm not going to do anything. It would be no fun at all."

Autor had watched the scene before him without a word. He was too amazed to meet real spinners in person. Two at the same time! Only now he tried to calm himself down, but he still couldn't hide his excitement. He moved his glasses and cleared his throat before he spoke.

" But you should be able to do it, right? I don't see how this makes any difference than before."

Drosselmeyer looked at the youngster. Autor held his breath as he met his eyes.

" There must be a reason why he actually did it right? What did I write about him anyway? Hmmm... ", he mumbled staring into the air.

Then, he seemed to remember something and he smiled. A vicious smile.

" Alright, I will help you. But first you have to do something for me..." He reached out a hand to the group.

Fakir didn't say anything. No matter what Drosselmeyer wanted could be any good.

" Oh come on", said Drosselmeyer after seeing Fakirs face," I can bring Jäger to you and I will, I swear. But I want something in return..."

" We'll do it.", Tutu stepped up. Everybody turned to her with big eyes.

" Ahiru! What are you-" Fakir started before he realized his mistake. Tutu interrupted him, with a weary smile on her lips.

" I'm not Ahiru. That's why. This is not my place. It's going to be okay. You really want her to come back, don't you?"

Fakir couldn't say anything. She was right. At this moment, the most important thing was to bring back Ahiru. But what would be the price?

Drosselmeyer chuckled.

" Good, then it's decided!"

"What are we going to play zura?", Uzura asked while running back to the old man.

" An old story Uzura. But newly spun."

Fakir understood that this was no good. Ella blinked innocently.

" What do you mean?"

Drosselmeyer sighed loudly.

" You see, after _the prince and the raven_ was finished I left the city to look for other stories. But everything's been boring."

"So what do you actually intend to do?", asked Autor less excited and a little more nervous about the situation he got in.

Drosselmeyer grinned and snipped with his fingers.

Out of nowhere, a gearwheel appeared, turning slowly in the air.

Aria gasped. "What the-?"

A moment later Jäger appeared before them, out of the gear. He seemed to be just as surprised as the group. He looked around disorientated. Sand giggled.

" How nice of you to visit us!", the spinner woman said and bowed before the boy. Jäger looked at her.

"You again?", he grunted. He raised himself from the floor and patted some dust off his shirt. Uzura gave a short "Oh!" and watched the newly arrived person with big eyes.

Fakir didn't want to lose anymore time and stepped up to Jäger.

" Turn her back right now!"

Jäger turned to him with a grin.

" Make me do it."

Fakir grunt his teeth.

" Yeah, yeah, whatever... let's forget about that for a moment will ya?", interrupted Drosselmeyer.

Tutu blinked and asked:" So what do you want us to do?"

"Let's just say, I'm planning a little reunion here", he said with a grin. Two new gears appeared, and this time people of royalty appeared, from a far away kingdom. Fakir, Autor and Tutu were mildly surprised. Aria was just confused.

"Prince...", Tutu whispered.

Mytho helped Rue to stand up and tried to figure out the situation.

" Are you alright? What is going on here?"

As all eyes were glued on Drosselmeyer he started to explain.

" I just want to hear one nice story. The prince and the raven was a masterpiece (except for the ending)! Just let me enjoy it again!"

Jäger grunted and looked at the prince with a meaningful look.

" It's not like anyone here can remember me anyway. And also, aren't we missing a Raven? And you can't tell me that guy is still supposed to be the knight", Jäger mused, pointing at Fakir.

Drosselmeyer thought for a moment. " Right, right...the raven..."

" Well, what are you going to do?", Sand giggled behind Drosselmeyer.

" I'll try the same thing Jäger did. Let's see what happens!", and with that he snapped his fingers once again pointing at Rue.

Rue was struck by pain and fell to the floor clenching her chest. Mytho knelt down to her.

" Rue, what's wrong? Rue!"

The supposed princess pushed him away. Black feathers appeared around her and her Tutu tainted black. Her frown turned into a vicious smile under her hand.

" Rue...", the prince said in shock. She was turned to the Ravens daughter once again. Tutu was just as shocked as Mytho and yelled.

" Why? Rue is not a raven! She's human! Why did you do that?"

" Because somebody has to play the role sweetie.", Sand answered blunt.

Fakir frowned and was ready to throw something against the two spinners, but Drosselmeyer also pointed his finger in his direction.

" Don't worry I'm not going to leave you out of this story, knight!"

Fakir fell on his knee, holding his head, screaming in pain. Tutu ran over to him.

" Fakir!"

Fakir breathed heavily, turning to Tutu. He looked at her confused.

" Who?"

Tutu blinked. Fakir straightened his back.

" You're... Princess Tutu?", he said in a gallant voice. Tutu felt unsure.

" What's wrong Fakir? Don't you recognize me?", she said heartbroken.

He raised himself.

" We have only met once, haven't we? I thought you have disappeared."

The ballerina's eyes grew big in surprise, as she realized what happened.

"... Lohengrin?", she said and then turned to Drosselemeyer. " You turned him into the knight of the prince? Why?"

Drosselmeyer shrugged. " Why, you ask? Because that's how the story goes." His grin grew bigger. " Princess Tutu disappears in a speck of light, the prince fights against the raven and the knight gives his live to protect his prince."

Princess Aria cut into the discussion.

" This is crazy! "

" Sweetie, this isn't your story so you better keep out of this.", said Miss Sand in a sweet voice. Just moments later, the revived knight realized the raven. He pulled out his sword ( had he even taken one with him?) and pointed it at the raven.

" Begone raven!", he screamed running towards the enemy. Alarmed, the prince put himself between his princess and his knight.

" Stop it !", he screamed, just at the same time as Tutu. But the knight didn't care. He had a duty to fulfill.

" Out of the way, prince!", he said shoving the prince to the side. Krähe jumped out of the way as he tried to strike her with his sword. She chuckled as she landed.

" Don't get full of yourself, knight."

" Ohh, how exciting!", whispered Miss Sand from aside. Jäger looked quickly at the spinners and grunted with a smile on his face.

" If you wish", he whispered and stepped forward.

" Let's have a little fun together." He pulled out his flute and played a little song on it. White wolves made of ice, appeared before him.

The knight placed himself protective before his prince. Mytho tried to convince him, trying to pull him back.

" Stop it, she's not the raven!", he cried desperately.

Krähe chuckled.

" Oh, I am a raven. You should know it better than anyone else. Isn't that right my prince?" She held her hand out towards Mytho.

Tutu jumped in between them and told them to stop.

" There's no reason for us to fight! Please, Rue! Do you really want to hurt the prince?"

The dark princess flinched a little at the sight of Princess Tutu. The knight was still dead serious.

" What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to help the prince? Are you plotting with the raven?"

" N-no Fakir you don't-"

He pointed his sword at her. She made a step back in shock, shaking lightly.

" Even when you're Princess Tutu, I won't hold back!"

And with these words he rushed towards her. Mytho couldn't stop him in time. Aria gasped in shock and Autors eyes grew big in horror. The spinners on the other side, seemed to enjoy it.

Anyway, before the knight reached the white princess, a white wolf attacked the knight. He slashed at it and cut it in half. It dissolves in a bunch of snowflakes.

"What the-", the knight, just as anyone else, looked up to Jägers direction. He held the flute in his hand, one more ice wolf behind him.

" I'm not saying that I'm not enjoying this.", he said with a meaningful look." But I won't let you attack my princess."

Mytho was still disoriented, but Lohengrin grasped the situation fast.

" I don't know who you are, but you better don't stay in my way!"

He grabbed his sword tighter and ran towards the new-found enemy. Jäger didn't move an inch, the wolf started growling and placed himself in front of his master, seconds before he attacked the knight. Lohengrin swiftly cut the being into two and went for the master. Jäger had made a sword of ice in the meantime and awaited the knight. Princess Aria rushed towards the two, almost tripping over her own feet.

" Stop! Don't do that! "

But a power made her stop. Her eyes opened wide in surprise as her violin appeared.

Sand chuckled.

" We need some fitting music, don't you think Drosselmeyer?"

"Ah yes, it makes it more exciting."

The spinners grinned viciously before the showdown. Aria started to play the violin, the pain written all over her face. She tried to fight against it, but she couldn't. How was she supposed to break the spell of a spinner? Her eyes were fixed on the two battling boys.

Princess Tutu and the prince also wanted to stop them, but were occupied otherwise.

" You should worry about yourself. Princess Tutu", said Princess Krähe with a vicious smile. A few crows flew above her head.

" Rue..", said the white Princess in a sad voice. Mytho stepped confident towards her, a little anger in his voice.

" Rue, stop it right now!"

She chuckled.

" With what? This is who I am. I told you it would come down to this but you didn't listen!"

The crows attacked Mytho in an instant. The boy pulled out his sword to destroy the ravens fast and tried to pursue his princess even further.

" This is not the real you! I also have the raven's blood inside me! You are no different from me!"

Tutu looked around herself. Lohengrin and Fakir were still fighting, Aria couldn't stop playing the music, and Autor was too shaken to do anything in this situation. And Rue sent once again crows down on Mytho.

What was she supposed to do? Was she once again just watching?

She turned towards the spinners. Her voice sounded desperate, and she was close to tears.

" Please stop this madness! Didn't you have enough? Please!"

Drosselmeyer pouted."Nooo, it's so exciting right now!"

" Please, somebody will get hurt if this goes on!"

" Well, I hope so."

Tutu cried heavily, her whole body was shaking. Couldn't she do anything here?

"Oh come on, let's give her a chance Drosselmeyer." Sand said amused. She turned to Tutu and bowed down a little.

" Let's make a deal. You came here, because you wanted to bring back the little duckling, right? If you manage to do it, we'll release you all out of here."

" Hey, hey! Don't decide things on your own!", Drosselmeyer grunted.

Tutu sobbed a little calmer now, looking up to the spinners. " ...bring Ahiru back?"

She looked around again, her eyes fell on Jäger. He revived Princess Tutu by returning a piece of her heart. She touched her Pendant. Her heart.

She turned to the prince and his princess. He still tried to fight off all the ravens, struggling with his voice. Rue seemed to be unmoved. Until the moment he lost his sword. One of the crows had grabbed it and thrown it away. The prince was struck. They were ready to attack the prince and rushed down on him.

"Stop!". One word from their princess and they stopped. Mytho looked at her. She was trembling, eyes wide open in shock.

" Rue...", the prince made a step towards his princess. He stopped as he heard the sound of a sword taking from the floor.

* * *

On the other side of the room, the sound of ice breaking against metal could be heard. The sound of the violin was only mildly heard in the background. Jäger chuckled.

" You're a better fighter than I thought. How come you don't do this anymore?"

The knight struck his sword of ice into two.

" I don't know what you are talking about!" He stroke, just moments after Jäger made another blade appear in his hands.

"Of course not.", he chuckled. "I should have thought of this myself. This way, you're no threat to me at all."

Jägers smile fell as he looked over the knights shoulder, his eyes growing big in horror.

"No...", he whispered. He tossed the knight to the side and rushed forward. Arias eyes, her hands still playing obediently, followed him. She held her breath,not breaking the chain of music. The knight stumbled and turned around to Jäger as well.

" Are you running away?", he yelled. Before he saw what made his enemy act. Princess Tutu had knelt down, the prince's sword in her hands. The sword he once used to break his own heart into pieces.

Something moved inside of him.

"Ahiru!", he whispered under his breath.

Throwing his sword to the side, he rushed also towards her. Just like Mytho and Jäger. Begging her not to do it. But there was no point in stopping her. Her face was still wet from the tears as she struck the sword through the pendant and her heart.

A glowing was surrounding Princess Tutu. Everybody shut their eyes and turned away. As soon as the glowing came, it was gone again. The sword fell loudly to the floor and the body of a young girl fell to the floor.

Drosselmeyer pouted again." Not fair." He sighed and turned to Sand. " Oh well whatever. I guess I'm going to leave now since the fun is all over."

Sand nodded. " We should drink a cup of tea together again."

" Yeah, I guess not.". He disappeared behind a gear wheel, together with little Uzura who hit her drum one last time before departing.

The curse seemed to be lifted. Rues black feathers turned white and Fakir ran over to Ahiru and tried to wake her up. Aria stopped playing the violin and came closer to the group. She stopped close to Jägers back.

" You see", she whispered, " you can't hold her, you never will."

He grunted. " You think that would stop me?", he returned and disappeared. Princess Aria breathed in and walked over to the others, with a heavy heart.

* * *

Yes, it took me a while to upload this chapter, sorry about that. My beta-reader was ill and I was busy with other stuff. And this chapter was a really hard to write for me. I've never wrote a fighting scene before ( and I think I pretty much avoided a big fight lol) and there were WAY too many characters in this chapter! But I guess I kind of managed to do this anyway.

Petruschka (in english it's Petrushka) is a ballet by Igor Strawinsky. Petruschka is a puppet with human feelings and gets killed at the end of the ballet(too lazy to write it more detailed).

Don't know when the next chapter is going to be up.


	8. Entführung aus dem Serail

_Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to fulfill his daughters wish and bring a Lark to her. But once he caught sight of one,and wanted to catch it, a lion appeared and threatened him. The man tried desperately to save his own live and promised the lion anything it asked for. The lion agreed and ordered him to give him the first thing that would run towards him once he returned home. The man accepted the condition, realizing that this decision was even worse than death. _

**Akt 8**

Entführung aus dem Serail

Everybody returned to Kinkan in an instant. Sand wouldn't help them anymore.

" If I told you how the story was supposed to go on", she mused, " then we might miss the chance to find a far better ending than I could think of!"

It was the last thing she said before she disappeared.

Mythos and Rue had also left with just a few words. Rue couldn't say anything, she was still pale and breathing heavily.

Mythos offered his help but both, Fakir and Ahiru, declined his offer.

"This isn't your story", explained Fakir. " We'll be able to take care of it by ourselves. Don't worry about it."

Mythos accepted their resolution, somehow. You should never meddle with a story that's not your own.

Ahiru has been well. It seemed that she didn't get hurt. By striking her own heart and the Pendant, they were able to switch again. Or maybe Tutu just needed to break her heart to disappear yet again in a flash of light?

Anyway, there was nothing to worry about anymore.

Autor was still in aw of what he experienced. Now that he saw some real spinners, he felt like a new door opened for him. He was fully occupied writing down his new-found knowledge.

Ella had been silent since they came back, with a distant look in her eyes. Ahiru wondered about it but didn't ask why.

She jumped a little when Ella turned to her with a serious look.

" We should go home."

"...huh?", Ahiru blinked irritated. Ella made a firm step towards her.

" If we go back home you might remember more about the past. I did when I went."

" So you know where the house is? Why didn't you say it earlier?"

" T-that's not important right now. Let's go!"

Ella took her hand and squeezed it. Ahiru shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other.

"O-okay...", she said unsure.

Fakir sighed as he watched the two girls. This will be... interesting.

* * *

They left early the day and marched through the woods.

"It's the fastest way", explained Ella, " but there is no good road for any horse. Don't worry it's not that far away."

But Ahiru's clumsiness slowed them down for good. She either stumbled, fell or her braid was caught in the trees branches. Fakir sighed annoyed after he finally took her hand, blushing a little.

" Just stay close to me and try to watch your step. Don't get distracted."

The girl pouted and was about to say something in return, but let it slide. She just nodded, facing the ground. Ella groaned, rolling her eyes. She faced the the road and moved a little faster.

" Can't you walk any faster!", she suddenly turned around and yelled. Ahiru startled at first but didn't let herself be put down.

" What is it with you? Are you mad at me or something?"

" Of course I'm mad, because you live up to your name you stupid duck!"

" I guess we're all just tired. We should rest for today.", Fakir explained.

" What? No! We need to get back fast!", Ella yelled at him.

" There is no need for us to rush! We'll get there by tomorrow, it's going to be all right."

Ella wanted to respond to this but just let out a quiet growl and turned around, walking towards the bushes.

" Ah, wait Ella!"

" Don't worry, she'll be okay. She just needs to cool off."

" But what if she gets lost? And it's so cold..."

" She seemed to be more reasonable than you. I don't think she'll go too far. Ella needs some time on her own, you need to respect that."

" Yeah but …. I want to know what's going on..."

" Who knows. She might tell when she comes back."

Ahiru nodded after a while. And turned to Fakir. He had picked up some sticks and tried to light a fire.

" Sit down." He said and pointed to the side. She walked over to him and did as she was told.

After the fire was lit, he sat beside her in the grass. He took out 2 blankets; one for himself one for the girl next to him.

For a while they said absolutely nothing. Fakir watched the fire while Ahiru gazed at the stars in the sky.

" I wonder what's it gonna be like.", said Ahiru after a while. She pulled her knees closer to her body.

" I mean, I hope I'll remember my past soon, but I've been gone for so long. I guess a lot of things would have changed in this time."

" Not necessarily. If they really are still trapped in a story, there won't be too much changes at all. In the end you might find the place the way you left it. "

Ahiru nodded and smiled.

Fakir still looked at the fire in front of them.

" Your life will change any way. But it's better this way.", he said concerned.

Ahiru looked at him irritated. " Huh?"

Fakir met her gaze. " You're going to stay with your family, won't you? There's no reason for you to return to Goldcrown."

Ahiru was about to yell. " That's not true!"

But she closed her mouth as soon as she opened it. She looked to the ground irritated. She didn't think about it. Of course. When she meets her family and restores her memory she would want to stay. The place she supposed to be. Most people in Goldcrown can't remember her anyway. But still, there was that one thing...

She moved her hand to hide her lips.

Fakir relaxed his face and breath out. He took her hand what made her look directly at him, but shortly after, she looked away again, a little ashamed.

" You will stay with your family. It's the only one you got, you've got to treasure it."

"...but you're also important to me.", she whispered into the fire.

" Well it's not like we can't meet ever again. You're hometown is not too far away. I could always visit you. Once I start to focus more on my writing and stop dancing I will have plenty of time. "

"But still!" The girl turned to him with a sad face. She was about to cry.

Fakir tried to keep a straight face.

" Ahiru, the only family I have now is Charon. And I want to stay with him. And you should stay with your family."

He pulled her a little closer to him. She blushed as he put his arm around her.

" This doesn't mean I'm abounding you, got it? I won't leave so easily."

Ahiru couldn't answer. What could she answer him?

She nodded calmly and rested her head on Fakirs head. No more words were spoken in this night between them. And shortly after Fakir had noticed that the girl next to him was asleep, he sighed and rest his head on the tree behind him. Although he tried to stay awake, he fell asleep just moments later. This moment was just too comfortable.

* * *

Ella had stamped through the forest until she came to small valley in the middle of the forest. She sat on a big rock close to her. She embraced herself as she looked into the sky. She had a worried complexion. She was confused. And scared. And it didn't seem to get better.

"You shouldn't wander off by yourself."

"Her eyes grew big as she recognized the voice and looked around.

"...Jäger?"

"Haha. Up here!"

She looked up. And there he was sitting in a tree with half-closed eyes and a simple smile.

Ella stared at him, at first a little surprised. But then her face saddened as she looked at the ground, slowly turning away.

Jäger tilted his head to this. He jumped down the tree and came closer to the girl.

" What's wrong?", he asked.

Ella sighed. He leaned down to her and tried to meet her gaze.

" Aren't you going to be happy for your friend ? She's going to remember everything soon."

"Leave me alone."

He blinked. The boy straightened his back and looked up.

"...You're not yourself."

"I'm always like this."

"You've always tried to talk me out of everything."

" I want to be alone right now."

" So you rather want me to go on?"

She turned her head abruptly to him and yelled at him.

"No! Those are totally different things!". She stood up to face him. Clenching her fists.

" Being with the Queen won't make you happy! This isn't about the Queen right now anyway.! I'm more worried about Ahiru.!"

"Why's that?". Jäger still talked in a soft voice.

" Because I'm scared that my heart is going to break!"

She put her hands on her mouth with a little shock. She turned to the side and turned lightly red, her eyes open wide.

Jäger just watched for a few seconds as she started to shake and almost crying.

" I don't know what you thinking. Every now and then I can see a glimpse of his memories. I don't know all of it, but you were friends right? All three of you."

She moved the hands to the side but still leaving them on her face.

" He wouldn't know what I'm worried about... or even if he knew he wouldn't believe it. But that's my own mistake." She looked at the ground, ashamed of herself.

She looked back at him. " Why does it even matter to you? Why do you care?"

The boy smiled knowingly and put his hands behind his head.

" I wonder. That's something you should think about."

And he disappeared. Ella sat down and kept looking at the ground.

" There's nothing to wonder about. He's just being nice..."

* * *

Before Ella knew it, the day was already over, without getting much sleep. She was freezing although she wore warm clothes. She walked back to her two companions who were still asleep. Fakir had put his arms around Ahiru as she snuggled closer to him.

Ella sighed and put her arms to the side of her hips.

" Wake up already! We gotta go!"

Fakir groaned. Ahiru opened her eyes like a newborn and blushed as she realized how close she was to Fakir. And Ella seeing it got even more annoyed.

" Stand up! We're leaving!"

They moved in a steady tempo. It wasn't far anymore.

" We're almost there.", Ella mumbled.

"Really?" Ahiru had managed to stumble a little less than the day before and caught up easily to Ella, Fakir walking a little further behind. Although she had rushed them before, Ella seemed to hesitate a little to go further. But she pushed herself anyway. It had to be done anyway, no matter what would happen afterwards.

" Ah!"

The sound of a piano.

Ella stopped. The way before them seemed to be flooded by light.

" We're there..."

Ahiru turned to Ella and also stopped, turned to the road and gazed. Like in trance, she ran through the forest. Fakir didn't stop her.

" So this is it.", he said with a firm voice.

Ella nodded. " No hard feelings coming here?" He glanced at her but didn't respond. He walked after Ahiru.

Ahiru ran until the trees finally parted in front of her. She stopped and looked around.

A lake with a tiny bridge.. A white house. Music played on a piano. The smell of grass and flowers. It overwhelmed her. Her sight got blurry...

Fakir came just in time to catch her as she fell unconscious. His voice couldn't reach her right now or the voice of a woman stepping out of the white house.

Right now she had a sweet dream of her childhood.

* * *

_Okay I don't even want to know when I last updated this story _

_I know it was long overdue and I promise the next chapter will come faster *don't kill me for the short chapter*_

_The fairytale is "the singing, springing Lark" it got many simialirities to the beauty and the beast ( of you know the original version of that story), I think I've read that they do have the same origin_

_Chapter title translates to "The Abduction from the Seraglio" and it's an opera singspiel by Mozart. The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the seraglio of the Pasha Selim*thanks wiki*_

_ change quite a bit since I last logged in O_o _

_ah right about the " Of course I'm mad, because you live up to your name you stupid duck!"_

_in germany , when somebody is walking or doing something slow we call him/her "lahme Ente"( lame duck) I do know that the term is also used in english but refferring to politician _

_ I pondered but I left it in the story anyway. It's supposed to be in germany, right?_


	9. Träumerei

_Once upon a time there was a very lonely woman. One day, a witch came by and offered her a seed._

_She planted the seed and out of it grew a flower, and out of the little flower jumped a little girl. The woman was so happy. But one day the little girl disappeared. No matter how long the woman waited, she didn't return. The little girl however, went through various adventures and didn't think back to the old woman who used to take care of her. _

**Akt 9**

**Träumerei**

" Come on, wake up!", a voice said. " How long do you want to sleep?"

The girl blinked. She felt the fresh grass under her hands and heard the lovely sound of music. Another girl leaned down to her, her hands on the sides of her hips and with a grin on her face. She wore a sailor uniform and her brown hair fell over her shoulders.

" Good morning!", she teased.

The girl in the grass sat up and rubbed her eyes. " Stop teasing me..." She looked if her red hair was still in a braid and stood up to be face to face to her friend. The brunette giggled and took her by the hand.

" Your mother is playing the piano so beautiful. Let's practice some dancing Klara!"

The brunette dragged the girl to the white house.

_Klara... right that's my name_, realized the redhead, although she wondered if she had forgotten her own name. How strange. She let the brunette pull her along. Her name was Ella. Her best friend. Since she could remember.

Suddenly Klara stumbled as she was in thoughts and after some weird steps she fell on her butt and gave a short "Qua!". Ella turned around to her. " You okay ?"

"Y-yes!"

All around other children giggled. " Did you see? So funny. She's really just like a Duck. Ha ha!"

Klara grumbled. Ella reached out a hand down to her to help her up.

" Don't worry about them. Come on let's go!"

Klara looked up to her and nodded. She took her hand and stood up . She picked off the grass from her sailor suit.

" Are you going to dance again?" It was a boys voice. It sounded familiar.

Ella frowned as she turned to the boy. Klara also turned her head. But the light of the sun dazzled her view. She could make out a little about him, vaguely.

" Yeah, so? You can't come and watch, got it Kai? "

_The boy 's name is Kai, _thought Klara to herself. She held her hand up to block the sunlight to get a better view. Kai's silhouette looked strange. He held a long stick in his hand and his leg-

Klara gasped as she was pulled back.

"H-hey Ella!"

" Don't worry about him he's useless anyway."

Klara went silent as she watched Ella strong back. Then she opened her mouth.

" You... always fight with him..."

Ella shrugged. She looked to the floor. The house came nearer.

" He's annoying and weak. Why should I care about someone like him! He's... he's not my prince!"

Klara blinked. "But-"

" No buts!"

Ella let go of her hand and stopped her movement. Klara stumbled yet again but kept her balance. The redhead looked at Ella's back curiously. Why did she stop? She leaned forward and looked around Ella's shoulder to get a better look at her face. Was she... sad?

Ella realized her gaze and gave her a big smile. She made a few steps towards the house and swirled around. Her skirt flew around beautifully.

" Come on, let's go dancing! ", and so she turned around and left for the house.

Klara sighed. Sometimes she really couldn't understand her. Although... she felt like she knew the answer. She tried to think what it is. Did she forget about something else? She scratched her head but finally shrugged her shoulders as she was about to run to the house.

" ...Ahiru..."

She stopped and frowned. Why won't they stop calling her names !

She turned around and started to yell:

" I'm not a -"

Her frown disappeared and confusion could be seen on her face. Her eyes grew big. The boy with black and green eyes stood before her, a mild smile on his lips.

"- Duck?", she finished her sentence, uncertain about the meaning.

She reached out her hand slowly to the boy and-

* * *

Ahiru woke up very suddenly. She opened her eyes widely. _Was it just a dream? It seemed so real..._ She looked around herself: she was lying in a bed in a small room. She could look outside the window. It was dawn and the birds sang their songs to say goodbye to the day. The girl sat up in the bed and took a better look around the room. Her view rested on the boy who sat next to the bed in a chair. His arms were folded and his head fell to the side. He breathed calmly, his mouth wasn't fully closed.

A little smile appeared on Ahirus lips. She moved the blanket that covered her body to the side. She went on her knees and reached for the arm of the chair and moved closer to Fakirs face. She looked at him with dreamy eyes. The girl leaned forward and kissed him- well she tried but she barely caught his lips.

Fakir reacted a little, shifted his body and sighed. She moved her head back to get a better look of him.

_Thanks for bringing me back, Fakir_, she thought to herself.

But the moment was over in a blink of an eye. Because Ahirus hand slipped and the girl fell to the floor with a little shriek and a loud _thump_.

Fakir woke up immediately and after a few seconds of confusion he saw the red haired girl on the floor smiling up to him in a shy way.

" Idiot. What are you doing?", he rubbed his weary eyes. Ahiru sat up and her back faced the boy.

"You're mean..."

He went with his hand over his face. He could tell that she was pouting.

"Sorry", he muttered. And after a short silence continued. " You scared me a little..."

Ahiru turned around to him, wondering what he meant. He sighed while leaning back.

" You fell unconscious all of a sudden. You slept through the whole day."

" Oh... I'm sorry..."

He shook his head weakly. _Don't be. It's okay. _

"... I remembered...", she started after a while. " All of it...or maybe most...my real name is Klara..."

" Yeah you're mum told me..."

Ahiru turned to him abruptly.

" Really? She's here?", she said excited. Fakir nodded with a smile.

The girl clapped her hands together." That's great. You know, my mum was the one who got me into ballet. She used to do it when she was small but finally decided to go for music. She really loved the ballet of the nutcracker so she named me after the the girl of the story. Although I've never really been good at ballet she was always happy when I danced while she played. Actually, she thought I was quite good. Hihi. I wonder how good of a dancer she actually is... ah sorry I keep talking about stupid stuff. I'm sorry!"

" It's alright". The boy got up from the chair. " You're finally back home. You should enjoy it. As well as your memories. You deserve it."

He reached a hand down to her to help her get up and she took it happily.

" Come. You must be hungry,"

Ahiru nodded and let him lead her to the door but then she remembered something.

" Wait."

Fakir already wanted to reach for the doorknob as he stopped his movement and turned to her.

" What is it? Are you scared?"

She shook her head with a smile.

"I just wanted to tell you one thing. Something I remembered. Or rather didn't. More like I know it never happened."

" What are you talking about?", he asked slightly annoyed.

She looked him straight in the eyes.

"You're the first boy I kissed."

Fakir looked at her with eyes wide open, just before he turned away.

"C-come on!"

He dragged her behind her right out of the room. She let out a little scream of surprise when he pulled her.

"H-hey!"

She pouted as she caught up to his tempo.

" You're supposed to be happy about that. Idiot."

Fakir didn't say anything. He didn't dare to turn his face to her or else she could see how red it was.

He opened the door to the... living room as Ahiru now remembered.

" She's awake."; said Fakir briefly as he let go of Ahirus hand and walked past the person who sat in the chair at the table. Her red hair was put up to a knot and she wore a beautiful white dress. She looked at Ahiru with clear blue eyes, much lighter than her own.

" Mother...", Ahiru almost whispered. _Does she still recognize me? _

The woman jumped up in an instant and grabbed her daughter into a tight embrace. She was laughing whole-heartily.

" Oh it's really you isn't it? I'm so happy to see you again. I was so worried about you."

She cuddled her little darling into a deep embrace until the girl almost couldn't breath anymore. But it didn't matter.

The woman let go of her daughter and looked at her face with teary eyes.

Ahiru couldn't seem to find words to say to her own mother after so long time. And she also just remembered everything!

The mother on the other side couldn't stop.

" Oh, how I missed you Klara. You've grown quite a bit. And here you are, back in my arms like you've never been gone in the first place.

That boy is your boyfriend, isn't he? My, he's so charming! Fakir was it right? Wait until your father hears about him.

Oh I'm so happy you're back, my little duckling."

Ahiru got caught up in another embrace, a little lighter this time. Then she finally started to mumble a few words.

"My father... where is he?"

The elder woman calmed down a little. She gently stroke the girls hair and laid her head on top of hers.

" He went out searching for you. He possibly has been caught in a story as well. You friends told me about those spinners. But don't worry I'm sure he's just fine, just like you are."

Ahiru nodded. The woman started to talk again.

" You're name was Ahiru, right? That's a really sweet name, it fits you."

" It's weird to hear my old name, actually..."

" Do you want me to call you Ahiru from now on?"

"No. How long was I gone?"

"Hmm for about three years. A small eternity."

" I see...say, mum?

"Hmm?"

"Can you tell me where Ella went? I need to talk to her."

The parent parted from her child and gave her a sweet smile.

" She went outside a while ago. She shouldn't be too far."

" I have to talk to her. Thanks mum!", she said and ran pass her mother and Fakir through the door.

" Ah wait aren't you hungry?", the mother shouted after her but she was already gone. The woman sighed.

" Oh geez that girl. Where does she get so much energy from?"

She turned around to Fakir with a bright smile.

" Will you help me to fedge something for everyone? It's been a while since I cooked for anyone else but myself."

" Ah, sure."

* * *

Ahiru found Ella on the bridge sitting on the wood and staring into the water. It was a cold breeze outside and Ahiru already started freezing. She ran over to Ellas side while embracing herself.

At first neither one of them talked.

But Ella couldn't bear the silence.

" You came here for something didn't you? So talk!"

Ahiru was a little surprised by her sharp voice but it had the right effect.

" I remember now. My parents, my home, the other kids, you ..."

"... and Kai?", Ella asked. She threw a little rock into the water. Yet it was frozen and the little stone couldn't splash into the water.

"Yes. I think I get it now."

" You get what?"

"You actually like him, don't you?"

Ella didn't react.

"But you were always so mean to him-"

" Do you still remember our fight? The one about princes and knights?"

"Huh? Why do you...? Yes I do, a little."

" When I was younger your mum used to tell me that my dad, gave me the name Eleonore because he wanted me to be as strong as a lion. She said that I've actually became quite a proud a lion. People soon recognized my talent of singing and called me " the lark". I always thought... that I would become famous thanks to my voice and become rich. And my husband would be a beautiful prince.

You were quite different. You wanted somebody to just stay by your side and only look out for you, somebody who would protect and save you from everything evil. A knight in shining armor."

" Right, that fight. We had it right after...", Ahiru didn't finish the sentence. She didn't want to say it out loudly.

"... right after Kai confessed to you. He liked you because always danced Ballet and he thought it was beautiful. But I think it was just because he couldn't really dance himself."

" So the fight was really about Kai? Now that I think about it, I was really harsh to him."

Ella looked up to the sky. Ahiru waited for her to continue but she didn't.

" So...?", she tried to animate her.

" So what?"

" Why didn't you tell him? Or did you actually-"

"No I didn't ….tell him anything! I thought, that I couldn't let myself be seen with him. That he's not good enough and all that. I was so stupid. That's why I gave up singing. To leave my stupidity behind and start anew."

" ...The Queen got him, doesn't she?"

Ella nodded and slowly turned around to her. She had been crying.

" I want to save him. It's the least I can do."

Ahiru smiled at her.

" We'll just do that then. Together."

* * *

Fakir sat down at the table. He took a deep breath.

" You sure about this? You just came back home..."

Ahiru stood a few steps away behind him, her hands folded. She nodded with a smile. Ella and her mother were standing beside her.

" I know now who I am. And I talked to my mum." She faced the elder woman.

"I'll be worried, but I guess there's no way around it. Maybe because I'm also in a story I can't really say anything against it? Ah, but don't worry I'm sure that you'll return." She smiled brightly. Was this the truth?

Ahiru turned to Fakir again. "It's alright. I couldn't stay here anyway while still thinking about Kai."

Fakir was silent for a moment. Then he turned around and grabbed the feather and wrote. A story about a Queen with an icy attitude, in her castle which was always surrounded by a violent snowstorm. And about a door that led directly to her place.

The window opened with a crash and snow flew in. The snow flakes slowly gathered in the room and formed an door of ice and snow.

The girls looked surprised at the door while Fakir let down his feather and stepped towards the door. He looked at the girls.

" Come on, let's go."

Ella walked steadily forward but Ahiru turned to her mother one last time.

" I'll be back. I promise."

The woman nodded and kissed her daughters forehead before she finally had to let go of her girl yet again.

From a far place a Queen was looking as the little group stepped through the door of ice. But her eyes were fixed on the boy they call Fakir. She had curiously watched the boy from afar and watched him do the craziest things.

" The power of a spinner. I like it.", she said with a vicious smile, awaiting her guests.

* * *

_wah I'm so slow with updates now! sorry about that. I actually wanted to finish the story this year but oh well :S_

_The fairytale this time is "Thumbelina" by Hans Christian Andersen. I always found it kind of said that thumbelina didn't return to the woman since she only got thumbelina because she was lonely._

_The music this time is "Träumerei" by Robert Schumann. Träumerei translates into musing or reverie in english._

_Hope you all have a wonderful christmas/winter/holiday time :D_


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